If you voted in favor of the city establishing a street repair fund last fall, take a drive along the northern part of Santa Fe Avenue. Not too far south, mind you, or you’ll be bouncing along a teeth-rattling stretch of washboard surfacing. But go ahead and savor the relatively smooth part of Santa Fe between Mineral Palace Park and Fourth Street.

That repaving work was the top priority on the city’s list of projects that were supposed to be done with money from the voter-approved street repair fund. But the work on Santa Fe wasn’t paid for through the street repair fund because city officials still haven’t worked out a fee schedule to charge to property owners.

Instead, the road paving expenses came out of the city’s general fund, with plans to reimburse those costs from the street repair fund later. Bear in mind that city officials wanted to create a separate street repair fund because they said not enough money was available in the general fund. So it’s fair to wonder how long the city can dip into the general fund for road work without delaying or canceling other city projects.

Read more at The Pueblo Chieftain.