Councilors debated a proposal to authorize $3 million in additional bonding for the city’s paving program during May 20 budget deliberations, with supporters urging immediate action and staff and other councilors urging deeper analysis of timing, scope and debt-service impacts.

Councilor Walker made the initial proposal to increase paving bonding by $3 million to supplement the city’s existing $1 million paving program. “I’m recommending that we do… increase the $3,000,000 bond to pump that so we can get some of these bad streets, like Sullivan Farm Road, repaved,” Walker said during deliberations.

Public Works Director Peter Nourse and the city manager said the city’s paving contracts and calendar mean work funded by a new bond likely would not be performed until the spring of 2026, and that staff need time to model how much additional bonding the city can sustain while managing debt-service implications. The city manager told councilors staff would prefer to analyze options further at the committee level before final authorization.

Councilor Fitzpatrick moved to refer the bonding proposal to the Public Works Committee for further vetting; the motion was seconded and generated extensive discussion. Councilors expressed differing views: some argued an immediate authorization would allow crews to address the worst streets sooner and better enable the pavement-condition-index (PCI) program to work; others said the council should model the debt-service effect and a multi-year funding plan before committing.

Director Nourse noted the city likely needs substantially more than $3 million over time to restore the overall condition of all roads: “the city probably needs about $20,000,000 to rebuild the roads it needs to rebuild,” he said, adding that any additional bond authorization should be paired with a clear plan for priorities and expectations. Staff said that even if bonding were approved promptly, contractors’ schedules and the city’s contracting cycle mean most funded work would occur in the spring 2026 construction season.

The provided transcript excerpt does not include the final council vote on the referral or on a bond authorization. Councilors directed staff and committees to return with further analysis on timing, options (cash vs. bond), and the anticipated effect on the tax cap and future operating budgets.