The next Cincinnati budget includes about $20 million to repave streets, with another $2 million in grants expected.
The city has a goal to repave 100 lane miles every year. This budget has enough to repave 36 lane miles, plus 28 lane miles of preventative maintenance.
It's a little less money than some recent budgets, but the real problem is how much more expensive it is to pave roads.
It now costs about $1 million to pave one mile of a two-lane street, up from about $650,000 in the last fiscal year.
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The gap is expected to grow. Officials say the city should spend more than $176 million over the next six years on repaving and preventative maintenance. The estimated funding available in that time is just $86 million.
Other transportation infrastructure is in trouble too, including maintaining street lights, traffic signals, bridges and sidewalks.
Street rehabilitation is part of the city's Capital Budget, which has a few primary income sources.
The city's 1.8% earnings tax is divided into three categories:
- 1.55% for the General Fund
- 0.15% for permanent improvements (capital)
- 0.1% for maintenance of city infrastructure
The city expects about $14 million in revenue from the 0.15% portion of income tax.
LEARN MORE: How to understand the next city budget
The city also takes on debt to support capital projects. And about $26 million a year comes in from leasing the city-owned Cincinnati Southern Railway to Norfolk Southern.
City officials want to sell the CSR to Norfolk Southern instead of renewing the lease; they say investing the $1.6 billion sale price would more than double the annual amount available for the capital budget.
Cincinnati voters must approve sale. It could be on the ballot as soon as November.
