Rough Road Ahead For Smoother Streets?

The prospect of smoother streets for Ann Arbor, through a special millage levy, apparently faces a long, rough road. City Council voted Monday night to table until next month a Republicansponsored effort to place a one-mill levy on the April ballot to finance a permanent street repair program. And if the discussion last night is an indication, the chances of the proposal making it to a ballot status are virtually nil. With other sources of funding closed off, the issue may next surface in the spring when it wül compete with other city for scarce general operating monej. However, any funds the city might be able to pry loose from the general fund budget for street repairs will likely.be considerably short of what officials say is needêd to pui An árbor's streets in1 the condition most people would like. The city's Streets, Traffic and Parking Department has proposed a $2.5 million repair and reconstruction effort for next year, but this was based on passage of special millage. Department officials say even with a constant source of reven ue, it would take up to two decades to get the streets back to par. The opposition by Democrats to a special millage levy was not based on any belief that the streets don't need repairs, but rather on how high this priority should be. "The way I read the community now is that they don't want taxes increased," commented Couricilwoman Carol Jones, D-Second Ward. "The roáds should be reflected as a budget priority. If people want roads as their top priority the public will elect people who'U make that their top priority." But Councilman Roger Bertoia, RThird Ward, chief sponsor of the millage attempt, contended there isn't enough operating money available to do what is needed. It's "foolish" to think the money can come from the general fund, he said. Although the Republicans argued the city's budgeting efforts in recent years has shown to voters it is responsible, Councilman James Kenworthy, D-Fourth Ward, contended Ann Arbor has been misusing state funds for improving roads. Kenworthy pointed to a report that council received comparing how Ann Arbor uses this $1.8 million per year with how East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing and Saginaw use their state allotments. Ann Arbor is the only city, Kenworthy said, which doesn't use any money for street reconstruction. It also uses 22 per, cent of its annual funds for signáis and signs, compared to the other cities whicn use from six to 13 per cent, he noted. "I think a lot of our weight and gas tax money goes to salaries and not as much for asphalt to put on the streets," Kenworthy argued. "Before we ask for more money we've got to guarantee we won't . just be substituting thé new money for the money we have now." Bertoia retorted that Kenworthy was "running up a smokescreen. All the money you talked about wouldn't pave a half mile of road." Fellow Fifth Ward Republican Louis Belcher concurred, charging Democrats with rejecting the millage but offering no new solutions. "I really think the reason the roads are the way they are is because we've had too many gutless councils who wouldn't face the problem. When is this council going to get some guts? Obviously it isn't now," Belcher charged. Most of the city's road repair effort is financed by the weight and gasoline tax fund revenues. However, a $1.3 million repair program completed last summer effectively mortgaged this program for several years, officials claim. The community developmënt program council recently approved will allow some improvements through a $250,000 for street repairs, but this again falls short of what the city says is needed. A bond issue has been declared an ineffective way of financing a repair program because any non-voted bond issue would require large debt payments from the general fund and a voted bond issue would not cover the time span needed to adequately fix the streets. Council tabled the millage request untü the Jan. 5 meeting, the last 'date at which any proposal for the April ballot can be approved. Other councU news on Pages 3, 17, 32.
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Glen Harris
Ann Arbor News
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