City of Austin logoAustin street maintenance may suffer from budget shortfalls. According to budget forecasts presented to the City Council, the $43.2 million collected from transportation fees on utility bills won’t cover the planned maintenance of $50.9 million for fiscal year 2009.

The issue is particularly important as streets that do not receive timely maintenance deteriorate faster and require more costly rebuilding. The city’s goal is to take care of maintenance on 10 percent of its roads each year. In 2002, the City reduced that amount to 8% and recently began increasing the amount in an effort to regain the 10% goal. The $50.9 million budget was estimated at 9.5% of roads in 2009.

Austin scraping for street maintenance money - Austin American-Statesman