SAN DIEGO — A new report just released by the city auditor says San Diego leaders need a comprehensive, long-term plan to fund fixes to city streets.
The audit comes about a month after a separate report found that our road pavement rating has dropped significantly since 2016.
On Tuesday, Mayor Todd Gloria and Council member Raul Campillo held a news conference to unveil a segment of Navajo Road in San Carlos that has been repaired as part of the mayor's "Sexy Streets" initiative.
SURVEY: How are the roads in your San Diego County neighborhood?
Crews removed several inches of the existing asphalt and replaced it with new overlay. They also replaced sidewalk panels curbs and gutters and will stripe the road Tuesday.
According to the city, the cost to fix just one mile of Navajo Road stretching from Park Ridge Boulevard to Margerum Avenue and Camino Estrellado carried a price tag of nearly $2 million.
Though City Auditor Andy Hanau acknowledged the city has made major steps forward with its new plan to fix the roads, he wrote in his report that it lacks long-term funding solutions. He found that San Diego officials have only identified $645 million in funding to tackle a $1.9 billion problem.
Mayor Gloria was asked how the city is going to fund repairs for roads as well as storm water infrastructure following the massive flooding that took place in Southeast San Diego Jan. 22.
"When you look at the size of the infrastructure deficit that we have in terms of financing, it's over $5 billion thereabouts, that's what we spend to run the entire city per year. So if you ask the question 'Can we simply do this with our existing resources?' The answer is obviously no," said Mayor Gloria.
"I recognize that hasn't often been said by mayors in the past, they weren't being honest with you. I will always be honest with you. There's no way we can solve a $5 billion problem with our existing resources. We're going to have to find a new way to do it," he added.
Mayor Gloria said the funding issue is something that will likely need to be brought to the voters.
WATCH RELATED: As San Diego roads deteriorate, taxpayers are on the hook paying hundreds of thousands (Jan. 24, 2024)