Public works seeks to triple outlay for paving streets

Worried that repairing crumbling streets will wind up costing taxpayers far more in the long run, public works officials are seeking to triple the money the city allocated for road resurfacing during the next fiscal year.

The budget panel for the Public Works Board recently recommended allocating $1.9 million for repaving city streets. That compares to the $650,000 it will likely spend this fiscal year, which ends in June.

“This is what we think we need to somewhat hold our own,” Public Works Director Walter Veselka said.

But with politicians and fiscal overseers fretting that revenues are down and wary of hiking property taxes, the prospects for winning approval for the spending are poor.

Finance Chairman Rich Miecznikowski, whose Board of Finance does most of the work of setting the yearly spending plan, said, “We’ll look at it very closely, as we do with all budgets.”

“I know damn well they’re going to cut it,” said Don Padlo, a long-serving public works commissioner.

Last year, public works sought $2.2 million for its overall streets budget – which includes paving, sidewalk repairs and a number of related items – but emerged with $1.3 million in its final revised budget.

This time around, public works officials are angling for $2.6 million, despite warnings that city spending will generally be frozen at this year’s level.

“We can’t take another $1 million hit,” said city Councilor Cliff Block.
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