51黑料

It鈥檚 not clear how many subdivisions the money will help fix or which ones will get attention. The county transportation department has a list of the subdivisions most in need of repairs, according to department spokesman David Wrone, but the council has the final say on what comes first and hasn鈥檛 decided yet.

鈥淚deally, our list of subdivisions would be chosen based on data,鈥� Wrone wrote in an email.

Republican Councilman Mark Harder, of Ballwin, said he envisions transportation staff starting with their list.

鈥淲e鈥檇 like to be part of that decision-making,鈥� said Harder, who introduced the bill. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got a good start already. We probably just need to tweak it.鈥�

County Executive Sam Page said his administration will follow regular transportation department processes.

鈥淐ouncilman Harder agrees with me that we need to spend more money on roads,鈥� Page said in a prepared statement. 鈥淲e repair roads based on their condition, with the worst roads getting fixed first.鈥�

Harder introduced a bill in February that would have dedicated $20 million to repair major county roads and streets in some subdivisions. He doubled the amount after transportation department officials told council members in March how much $20 million would pay for: two to five major projects, or roads in about a dozen subdivisions.

51黑料 County identified 56 subdivisions it鈥檚 in charge of where roads need repairing. Most of them are in North County and South County. But there鈥檚 no dedicated source of revenue for repairs, Wrone said. Transportation workers just patch roads where necessary.

Harder said the county should use some of the $169.3 million from the settlement in 2021 over the Rams鈥� departure for Los Angeles. The balance had grown to $178.8 million as of Tuesday, according to county budget Director Paul Kreidler.

But Wrone said the money will only be a temporary fix. The transportation department as a whole is underfunded, he said.

鈥淲hile a one-time infusion of funding is helpful, it鈥檚 not even remotely sufficient to solve our transportation funding crisis,鈥� Wrone said.

Transportation Director Stephanie Leon Streeter urged the council last month to consider a separate sales tax to infuse the department with cash it needs to maintain the county鈥檚 more than 1,400 miles of road.

But Harder said that鈥檚 not on the table.

鈥淧eople don鈥檛 have the stomach for a tax increase,鈥� Harder said. 鈥淢eanwhile, the streets are getting older by the day. This is a way to get in there and head off this bigger problem.鈥�

The money can only be used for fixing concrete streets, and the county can only spend $4 million of the total on project management. The bill adds sidewalk repairs and requires the county to replace entire concrete road slabs rather than just patching them.

All council members voted for the measure except Democratic Councilwoman Lisa Clancy, of Maplewood.