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 and maintenance rationale: The official described the four-layer structure of a street (subgrade, base, street, surface) and summarized the pavement condition index (PCI) lifecycle: “If you do proper maintenance on a street, it doesn’t last 20 years, it can last 30, 40, or 50 years.” He said deferred maintenance multiplies reconstruction cost: “for every dollar you spend on a street while it’s in good condition, you save 6 to $10 of reconstruction later on.”

- Funding model and the new fee: The council adopted a street maintenance fee structured by land-use traffic generation. Using Institute of Transportation Engineers guidance, staff assigned each lot a traffic-generation value and placed properties in tiers. Under the structure described on the podcast, a single-family residential account pays $5 a month; apartment units pay $5 per unit; lower-traffic commercial accounts (tier 1) pay $15 a month; the highest-traffic commercial accounts (tier 4, e.g., large restaurants and big-box stores) pay $45 a month. The official said the fee is intended to recover roughly $250,000 annually to pay for recurring maintenance activities only.

- Reconstruction vs. maintenance: The official stressed that maintenance is paid from operating funds while reconstruction is usually funded with long-term debt. He noted that Washington Street reconstruction cost about $4,000,000 and that the city financed that work with a 20-year borrowing, with debt service paid from property-tax debt levies.

Actions and decisions recorded

- Council adoption of a street maintenance fee: The city official reported that the City Council adopted a street maintenance fee program; the podcast did not provide a mover/second or a recorded roll-call vote on that adoption. Outcome: adopted (vote details not specified). Note: the official repeatedly emphasized that fee revenues must be spent only on street maintenance.

- Washington Street reconstruction: The official described a completed reconstruction of Washington Street at an approximate cost of $4,000,000, financed by a 20-year borrowing; the podcast did not provide the ordinance or resolution number authorizing the borrowing.

Discussion points and staff direction

- The official summarized engineering considerations (soil/subgrade, base, surface, climate effects) and the reason maintenance matters early in a pavement’s life.

- Staff used a 2023 contractor survey and PCI scoring to prioritize work; the official said a reconstruction program has recently begun and that future episodes will describe reconstruction plans and maintenance practices in more detail.

Quotes

- City official, City of Commerce: “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.”

- City official, City of Commerce: “Property taxes do not pay for street maintenance.”

- City official, City of Commerce: “If you do proper maintenance on a street, it doesn’t last 20 years, it can last 30, 40, or 50 years.”

Context and next steps

The official said the city’s elected officials prioritized public safety in the general fund budget and that the maintenance fee was chosen so the costs of street upkeep fall on those who use the streets most. The podcast host and official said future episodes will explain the city’s reconstruction plan and the specific maintenance activities the fee will fund.

Ending

The city official closed by saying the administration is “committed to serving you at the highest level we can” and reiterated plans for more public information about the reconstruction and maintenance program.