Gilroy City Council makes decision to channel as much money as
necessary to eliminate the waiting list for help through the 50/50
program
Gilroy – Residents looking to fix cracked and uprooted sidewalks outside their front doors will no longer have to wait a year or more for financial assistance from the city, which has decided to provide funds to any and all who wish to eliminate the liability outside their front doors.
At a Thursday budget workshop, city council decided to channel as much money as needed to eliminate the waiting list for help through the 50/50 program, which splits the cost of sidewalk repairs with homeowners.
“If tomorrow you come to the city and say you want to take part in the 50/50 program, you’re not going to be hearing ‘Sorry, you’re going to have to be on the waiting list,'” Mayor Al Pinheiro said. “If it eats up the $250,000 we already budgeted, we’ll make sure there is enough to meet the need.”
That has not been the case in recent years, as the 50/50 program has fallen victim to conservative budgeting forced by state takeaways of local tax dollars.
Many residents who hoped to get help from the underfunded 50/50 program, which helps more than 100 homeowners each year, found themselves at the bottom of an expanding waiting list. Some homeowners got passed over two years in a row because they failed to sign up quickly enough after missing out the first time.
The average sidewalk repair costs about $3,000, though some areas in the city require as much as $20,000 to $30,000 in repairs.
The council decision represents a stopgap measure while a citizens task force crafts broader policies to address sidewalk problems throughout the city. Officials estimate that repairing all of Gilroy’s cracked sidewalks and filling in “gaps” where none exist will cost more than $6 million.
The task force recommendations due in September are expected to cover a broad range of topics, including:
n the best financing options for citywide repairs and sidewalk “gap” closures
n ways to make sidewalks handicapped accessible
n ways to shift complete legal liability onto homeowners for “trip-and-fall” accidents
n a list of trees that cause less damage to city streets and walkways
Like many of his colleagues, Councilman Craig Gartman campaigned heavily on the sidewalk repair issue. But unlike his fellow councilmen, he believes the city should have set aside at least $2 million for sidewalk repairs in the current budget season, rather than wait for the task force recommendations in the fall. The decision means council will likely delay action on the recommendations until the budget year starting in July 2008.
“We’ll have to wait nearly a year before we can do anything,” Gartman said Friday. “I stood alone – nobody else supported me on that. … The dragging of feet was almost deafening in the chamber last night.”
