This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Salt Lake City's crumbling streets look to be a financial sinkhole as Mayor Jackie Biskupski prepares to deliver her proposed annual budget to the City Council on Tuesday.

The reason: Street maintenance has been neglected for years. The big question: Where is the money to fix the roadways going to come from?

The notion of formulating a new funding mechanism has been tossed about, but nothing concrete has yet been put forward. Nonetheless, the so-called "prison sales tax" of a half-cent per dollar purchase, or 0.5 percent, remains an option.

That tax was tucked into legislation that set a deadline for a commission selecting a new site for the Utah State Prison. Lawmakers later approved, as many had predicted, moving the lockup from Draper to Salt Lake City.

Both former Mayor Ralph Becker and Biskupski have said they did not favor imposing it. But it would bring in millions, much of it from nonresidents who work and shop in the city, and could be a saving grace for the deteriorating boulevards.

Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall said imposing the sales tax may be a possibility.

"I am hoping in its [budget] deliberations the council will consider implementing the so-called prison tax for the recovery and maintenance of our streets."

The council must approve a budget by the third week in June. It could impose the tax, whether or not the mayor supports it.

Here's the problem: Of Salt Lake City's 1,858 miles of streets, 54 percent were rated fair to poor, according to a survey that evaluated roadways for the five-year period from 2009 through 2013.

Annually, the city should spend $22.7 million on streets, according to the survey from the city's engineering division. But during the period reviewed, the average expenditure was only $9 million.

Streets were allocated $9.6 million in the 2014-15 budget and $9.5 million in the 2015-16 budget.

The 2013 survey is the most recent data publicly available regarding street conditions. More recent information on the condition of the city's roadways was requested from City Hall in mid-April but has not been forthcoming.

But if recent history is any barometer, the condition of the capital city's streets has deteriorated further since 2013.

By the spring of that year, the City Council, concerned about the condition of streets and parks, raised $8 million in property taxes. At least $4.6 million of that was specified for roads.

Then-Mayor Becker vetoed the increase, but the council overrode him.

The following year, however, Becker used the tax increase to give employees raises, even though the council believed its tax hike was earmarked for streets and parks. Politically, the council had little room to oppose the increases because rank-and-file workers hadn't had a raise since 2008.

Nonetheless, deteriorating streets can be likened to an economic time bomb. Street maintenance is critical because a lack of asphalt overlays to roadways in need can lead to street failure. That, in turn, requires complete reconstruction that is an order of magnitude more expensive than asphalt overlay.

According to the survey, optimum management requires at least 40 miles of asphalt overlay per year in Salt Lake City. But the average from 2009 through 2013 was 5.3 miles or 13 percent of optimum maintenance.

Also, 185 miles of some type of surface maintenance — like crack filler — should be applied every year. But the city's average during the period was 71 miles — 38 percent of the optimum.

Full roadway reconstruction should be accomplished through 18 miles each year, according to the survey. But the average was 2.12 miles.

Councilwoman Lisa Adams has noted that she hears more complaints about roadways from her constituents than anything else.

"Our streets are in poor condition," she said. "And the council is serious about doing something timely."

Streets, along with economic development and homelessness/housing, are the council's top priorities this year.

Councilman Charlie Luke has praised the streets division for what it has done with limited resources. But, he warned, budget increases for streets are now critical.

"We've stretched them out as far as we can," he said. "We'll see catastrophic failures requiring full-blown street replacements."

Whether the mayor and council have the political will to fund street maintenance at the expense of other projects remains to be seen, Luke said. For years, street funding has been a political football, often sacrificed for short-term budget balancing.

"Hopefully we'll be looking for financing tools so we can make progress."