Letter: Get serious about Battle Ground road repairs
Thursday, September 6, 2012
In 2011-2012 the city of Battle Ground budgeted roughly 0.3 percent of the total budget toward road repairs. For some perspective, out of a $30 million budget the city set aside around $84,000 toward road repairs. The city states in the budget that resources are not adequate to maintain the current level of service, yet they withdrew the $84,000 for repairs for this year.
Worse yet, street fund revenues actually increased due to increased collections from the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax. Rather than spending this revenue on street maintenance, the city chose to divert more than $44,000 to the general fund to be spent on who knows what.
So this year while new roads are constructed, the city will not be performing maintenance on the existing roads that are in dire need of repair. Millions of our tax dollars have been invested in building roads, so let's get serious about making those investments last before more streets turn into South Parkway. Let's enact a true road maintenance plan that will set aside a dedicated revenue stream out of fuel tax revenues to fund repairs and maintenance and stop diverting our fuel tax dollars away from fixing our roads.
Mike Dalesandro
Battle Ground
