SAN BENITO — It’s a common sight in town — orange road cones around torn-up streets.
But, some problems are deeper than the resurfacing of these streets.
Under some of the city’s pot-holed roads, old utility lines need repair.
So officials want to fix those water, sewer and gas lines before they pave the streets above them.
“The streets are really torn up underground and require major work before you can pave them,” City Commissioner Joe D. Gonzalez said. “Do we want to pay money to (pave them) and then tear it up to fix (the lines)?”
Last week, Gonzalez requested Public Works Director Adan Gonzalez provide the city with a list of streets under which lie utility lines in disrepair.
Those streets include Stenger, Lazby and Avon.
“We want to see if we can move it up,” Commissioner Esteban Rodriguez said, referring to streets placed on a priority list. “They’re in dire need of repair. It’s like a lot of streets. They need repair.”
Rodriguez said the city also needs to place those streets on a priority list.
For decades, roads have been a contentious and costly issue in San Benito.
“Some citizens expect their street should go first,” Rodriguez said. “In reality, we have to prioritize. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
In 2012, the city’s previous administration approved a 4-cent property tax increase as it planned to borrow about $3.1 million to launch one of San Benito’s biggest street improvement projects in years.
Now, the city has about $800,000 to fund street repairs, officials said.
“There are still a lot of streets left,” Rodriguez said. “Coming up with the money is always the issue.”
This priority list will likely determine how and where that money is spent.
In 2012, the previous administration sold $3.1 million worth of certificates of obligation to fund the street reconstruction program.
Then, commissioners voted to raise the city’s property tax rate to 72 cents per $100 valuation to pay back the bonds within 20 years.
The 4-cent tax increase generates about $146,701 a year.
In 2013, commissioners voted to place 26 streets on a project list, including about 95 blocks that staff determined to be in the worst condition.
Staff selected the streets from a list of about 240 blocks along 72 streets targeted as in need of repair.
Today, about $350,000 remains from the bond issue, Martha McClain, the city’s spokeswoman, said.
This year, commissioners earmarked $462,089 in city money to help fund the street repair project.
That’s up from last year, when commissioners took $263,284 from city coffers to pay for street repairs.
In 2014-2015, $36,716 was set aside for the project.
“The budget for street improvements has continued to climb over the years,” McClain said in a statement.
