Eric Miller says Mansfield has some of the best roads in the state. But it wasn’t always like this.
“Our streets were in deplorable condition,” Miller said. “They were falling apart, most of the streets were in terrible shape, and we just needed to do something about it.”
Back in the 1980s, Miller — a lawyer — started a group called the Committee for Better Streets, dedicated to fixing the streets for everyone.
The idea, he says, was this: “How can you, as a modern-day citizen, do something that helps people and helps all people across income ranges?” Miller said. “You can take care of the infrastructure.”
The Committee for Better Streets proposed a small tax — a quarter of a percent on earned income — dedicated to repairing the city’s roads. However, convincing people to pay more taxes is usually a non-starter.
For Miller, the answer was advertising.
“I said to the advertising guys, ‘How do we get people excited about this?’” Miller said. “They said, ‘Use humor and, at times, go ahead and get a little offensive or a little controversial.’”
The group name changed to the United Pothole Haters, which was shortened to Pothole Haters. They also ran local commercials on TV and radio, talking about the proposed tax and how much broken roads cost drivers in car repairs. Miller doesn’t have the footage anymore but he says the goal was to start a conversation about potholes.
“We claimed to be secretly recording a conversation of the owners of a chiropractic firm,” Miller explains. “The chiropractors were named Yankum, Billum, and Bone Crusher, and they were complaining about how the pothole tax was going to be bad for their business and that they had to do something to stop the pothole committee.”
Miller remembers blowback on one particular ad about a person with a phobia of holes falling into a pothole.
“I got a couple calls from people who were offended that I was making fun of phobias and that phobias were actually serious,” Miller said. “And I would say to them, ‘Well, I agree with you phobias are serious and they're also funny, so we're gonna keep running our ad.’”
Eventually, the blowback turned into support. The tax was passed in the late 1980’s and has been renewed every four years since.
Mansfield’s Pothole Haters Tax has seen a lot of success in Mansfield over the last three decades. The city generates about $4.8 million from the tax every four years. In 2024, the city resurfaced nearly 19 miles of streets and this year, it’ll fix 25 miles more.
Almost 40 years later, Miller says he doesn’t have to run ads anymore.
The smooth roads make the case for him.
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