Mayor Nancy Shaver on Our Grade D+ Streets: Write Commissioners Horvath, Sikes-Kline, Neville and Freeman

Lee Geanuleas

We're posting the email below from Mayor Shaver because we believe she makes an excellent point. If we know we need about $690,000 for street paving just to maintain our anemic "D+" streets, why would our city only budget $520,000?
Maybe the other commissioners like riding on bumpy, pot-holed streets? If you don't, let'em know and attend the budget hearing on Sep 22nd!
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Hi all—I am very grateful for all your help and support. We have a little over 60 days till election day—there is a lot of work ahead, but I'm confident we'll succeed on November 8. But this is not about the election—I’m reaching out to you because you care about our City, and I'm asking you to weigh in this week on our budget, and in particular, the spending proposed for our streets.
Our streets are in sad condition. We all deal with potholes that need patching every time we drive or bike in our City. And no surprise, a formal assessment gives our streets a D+, “Poor – At Risk.” Just to maintain our “bad grade,” we need to resurface 7% of our streets every year. The spending level in the proposed budget is 25% below what we need to just stay even and guarantees our streets will get worse. This year’s City budget, to be acted on September 22, at 5:05 pm, includes $520,000 for street paving—and that should be $690,000 at the least.
Where do we get the money? According to the City Manager, we can easily shift $170,000 from the $850,000 budgeted for mobility since we are not yet ready to spend those dollars. In fact, we could add more and maybe raise our streets’ D+ grade—and make our City more livable. We need to spend close to $1 million annually to make a difference for all of us, but adding a minimum of $170,000 would make a start. Since paving work is contracted, our staff says they can manage it easily without detracting from other important infrastructure work.
We need to get this right from the start—and not "take a look in three months" as has been proposed. This isn’t the time to push off this decision. I urge you to weigh in on this critical need for our City. If you’d like to see your final budget changed to do the right thing for our streets, mark your calendar to speak up at the Budget Public Hearing at City Hall, in Alcazar Room on September 22, at 5:00PM. If you can’t make the meeting, please send an e-mail to me and your Commissioners with your views.
Many thanks,
Nancy
Contact information:
Roxanne Horvath, Seat 1 rhorvath@citystaug.com
Leanna Freeman, Seat 2 lfreeman@citystaug.com
Nancy Shaver, Mayor nshaver@citystaug.com
Todd Neville, Seat 4 tneville@citystaug.com
Nancy Sikes-Kline, Seat 5 nsikeskline@citystaug.com