Sidewalk repair has become a priority in San Antonio’s proposed city budget. The city could spend nearly double what it’s spent in previous years.
The City of San Antonio has about 7,000 miles of sidewalks. About one-third of the sidewalks are in such need of repair, they’re classified as missing. In next year’s budget, the city has proposed spending its largest amount ever on sidewalks, about $15 million; in the past two years, San Antonio spent just over half that much each year - $8.5 million a year.
City Manager Sheryl Sculley told council members in a special meeting Tuesday that the next budget increase in spending on sidewalks would be continued into the 2017 bond.
“We thought we could get a jumpstart on that in this budget, and hopefully we’ll have some capacity next year that we’ll also be able to recommend increased funding for sidewalks and that would bridge us to the next bond program,” Sculley said.
The current budget proposal would focus on sidewalks to schools and the park system if approved by council. The city can’t pay for everything, however. To fully replace all the city’s missing sidewalks would require about $1 billion. District 2 City Councilman Alan Warrick said the districts surrounding downtown need the most care.
“For the benefit of our city and the economic development growth that can occur with these sidewalks and street programs, I think we could do great good in our inner city,” Warrick said.
The city council plans to approve the budget in September for the new fiscal year, which beings October 1.
