You Can Pay Now--Or Pay More Later, Official Tells Council

Using examples ranging from nuclear weapons to car oil changes, city leaders will try to sell the public on a multimillion-dollar repair plan for sidewalks, sewers and city buildings.

Crumbling 80-year-old pipes under Main Street and inadequate storm drains are among the city’s most serious infrastructure problems, Public Works Director Les Jones told the City Council this week.

He also gave them the sobering news that the city is $708 million short in its budget for new construction, repairs and maintenance, and needs $112 million of that immediately to avoid threats to health and safety.

“It’s about doing the right thing at the right time,” Jones said. “If they don’t do it, the infrastructure isn’t going to freeze in place. It’s going to continue to deteriorate.”

To get the money for the repairs, city leaders will have to seek public funds in some form, and taxpayers may be reluctant because they often don’t think about infrastructure until it breaks, Jones said.

“When you go to a park, do you think about that somebody had to trim the branches and maintain the play equipment?” he asked.

A computer program the city wants to create would make an inventory of every sidewalk, pipe, city building and street light in Huntington Beach, list how much it costs, when it will need to be repaired and replaced, and how much that work would cost.

Jones said the Integrated Infrastructure Management Program would be akin to what the U.S. military uses to keep track of vital maintenance of nuclear weapons. He also compared the plan to regular oil changes for a car--it may be cheaper in the short run to forgo them, but that will result in expensive repairs later.

City leaders said they don’t know of another city with a program that will anticipate and budget for repairs.

Mayor Ralph H. Bauer said that the program, though it might be unpopular with taxpayers, would benefit all residents.

“It’s not fair for me to sit here and do nothing, and in 10 years or 25 years have it all go to pot,” he said. “It’s our program together. It’s a community program.”