Commerce official: city streets largely in poor condition; new maintenance fee to raise about $250,000 a year

A City official for the City of Commerce said in a recent Commerce Connect podcast that the city’s street network is “in poor to failed condition” and that the city has adopted a street maintenance fee to pay for recurring repairs. The official said the fee structure is designed to charge users in proportion to how much traffic their property generates and to produce about $250,000 a year for maintenance.

The city official said, “The predominant color that you see on this image of our streets in 2023 is pink, red, and dark red. So the vast majority of our street network is in poor to failed condition.” The official also stated plainly, “Property taxes do not pay for street maintenance.”

Why it matters: the official explained that Commerce’s property-tax revenue is already committed largely to public safety and cannot be repurposed without reducing police and fire funding. To preserve limited tax revenue, the council adopted a fee — not a tax — that must be spent only on street maintenance.

Key facts and figures

- Condition and scope: The city has about 42 miles of streets and, according to a 2023 pavement condition survey, much of the network scored in the poor-to-failed range.

- Street lifecycle…