St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter pushes sales tax proposal to fix roads long-term
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Drivers sick of potholes have some hope on Thursday as the asphalt plant which serves the entire state, and parts of Wisconsin, opens up for the season.
The plant is in St. Paul and will be extremely busy over the next few weeks as potholes are being filled with a more permanent solution.
"I'm so excited that my car might make it out alive this spring," said Shavonnye Rath, a St. Paul driver.
Rath says there's a pothole that looks like a crater in front of her home.
"It's been really bad weather on top of really bad roads, so it's been a rough driving season for us," said Rath.
Cars have seen the worst of it; whether it's the tire, rim or axel, there's been a ton of damage claims in St. Paul recently. In 2022, there were 85 damage claims sent to the city. In the first three months of 2023, there have been 250 damage claims.
"We are at a point where the streets are failing faster than we can fix them," said Sean Kershaw, the director of St. Paul Public Works.
Kershaw says the asphalt is only a short term solution, which is why he backs Mayor Melvin Carter's long-term plan.
"Our goal is to transition ourselves from chasing potholes around our community to really rebuilding and reconstructing our streets," said Carter.
Carter is proposing a one cent sales tax to provide a $1 billion to rebuild the capitol city streets and parks. It's a bill proposed by State Sen. Sandy Pappas, which is currently seeking legislative approval.
"We do not tax food, we do not tax clothing, we don't tax people's rent, we're not taxing the essentials that low income people rely on, so it's not really as regressive a proposal as some people think," said Sen. Pappas.
If this legislature approves the sales tax proposal, St. Paul voters will see it on their ballots in the fall.