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Home > Blogs > Middletown News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > April > 18 > Entry
Pay it now, or pay it later
While everyone complains about how bad Middletown’s streets are, (and yes, they’re in bad shape), you have to wonder what the city’s street conditions would be today if a proposal made by City Council would have been rejected by voters more than 20 years ago.
City Council’s Streets Subcommittee was provided a short history of issue at its meeting Wednesday. Apparently, back when voters bumped the city’s income tax from 1 percent to 1.5 percent in the late 1960s, there was a stipulation that half of it, or 0.75 percent, would be earmarked for capital improvements, such as streets and city facilities, with the other half to be used for general fund operations.
However, in 1987, when the city faced cutbacks and layoffs due to a slow economy and smaller income tax receipts, City Council placed a charter change on the ballot to remove the stipulation and place all of the income tax revenues for general fund operations. At that time, the streets were in good condition and city leaders wanted to have the flexibility to spend the funds where needed while avoiding an income tax increase at that time.
Voters approved that change and the only revenues dedicated for street maintenance was through a 1-mill property tax.
In 1997 and in 2004, voters rejected income tax increases of 0.25 percent. In 2006, the city attempted to pass a 0.75-percent income tax increase that would have allocated funding for street repairs. That also got nixed by the voters.
The city has about 586 lane miles of streets to maintain, with about 348 lane miles ranging in conditions from fair, poor, very poor, serious and failed. And its budget is very tight for 2008.
The subcommittee is awaiting a cost estimate from the city’s Engineering Department and an updated street condition report is due in about a month. Once that information is ready, the task will be to figure out a repair as well as a financial plan to get the job done so council can consider the issue and place an issue on the November ballot.
Council will also have to deal with the trust issue in the community as it sells the plan to voters.
One thing is certain, the longer it takes to get started, the more expensive the project will cost. And the streets get worse each day.
If gas wasn’t so expensive, it might be a good time to open a Humvee dealership.
So what do you think? Is Middletown ready for a major, long-term infrastructure project? How much are you willing to pay in additional income or property taxes to drive on smoother streets?
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Comments
By VietVet
April 18, 2008 2:41 PM | Link to this
I may vote for an increase to fix the roads IF and only IF, the city can GUARANTEE the people that the money will be used on the roads and not diverted to another fund. This diversion tactic is why there is no TRUST in city gov. now and why they have such a hard time getting their levies passed.The city has created this no confidence feeling from it’s citizens by not keeping their promises in the past.The damage has been done.