Missouri City plans to spend $2.4 million repairing broken city sidewalks this fiscal year as the city faces a total of between $6.5 and $9 million in needed sidewalk repair work.

Of the $2.4 million, $2 million is coming from a $40 million bond referendum approved by voters in 2014, assistant city manager Scott Elmer said. 

Of the $40 million approved, the city has issued approximately $14.2 million worth of bonds, as of June 30, with that spent on facilities and transportation, according to budget documents. Future sidewalk repairs will be scheduled as the city council allocates funding, Elmer said.

The other $400,000 to be spent on sidewalk repairs this year is the amount set aside in the city’s adopted budget for fiscal year 2018. The city has spent at least $400,000 yearly on sidewalk repair since fiscal year 2008, Elmer said.

Before 2007, sidewalk maintenance had been the responsibility of individual property owners. But that year, the city council voted to make sidewalk repair the city’s responsibility after citizens requested city council review the policy, Elmer said.

In 2014, the city council appointed a task force to help decide how to allocate the money from that year’s bond package, the funds of which were dedicated to various projects throughout the city.

The year before, in 2013, the city hired a firm to examine the city’s sidewalks to determine which to repair based on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.  

That firm found the estimated costs of needed sidewalk repair to be slightly more than $6.75 million, Elmer said. Now, city officials estimate the cost to make all necessary sidewalk repairs at between $6.5 and $9 million, director of public works, Shashi Kumar said.

As a part of projects to be funded with the 2014 bond proceeds, the 2014 task force chose to allocate $3 million for sidewalk repairs, Elmer said. The $2 million slated to be spent on sidewalk repairs in the coming year will come from that $3 million. The other $1 million will be spent after completing the sidewalk repair work orders that are currently open, spokesperson Cory Stottlemyer said.

Elmer said those work orders will most likely be completed during this upcoming fiscal year, which ends summer 2018.

Of the $2.4 million earmarked for sidewalk repair this year, $1.25 million will be spent to repair sidewalks in District C, according to city documents. District C is represented by Council Member Anthony Maroulis. The rest of the money will be spread throughout the city’s other three districts for sidewalk repair in those.

That is because many streets in District C are lined with trees, and the roots of those trees crack and dislodge the sidewalk slabs as the trees grow and the roots get bigger, Elmer said.

Sidewalks in areas that provide access to schools, and those that serve residents with handicap accessibility needs are given a priority, Kumar said.

“The city does regular pavement management and maintenance evaluations,” Elmer said.

Such evaluations are typically conducted every three years, he said. City officials will most likely inspect the sidewalks again in the next year or so, Elmer said.