A street user fee that mayor Jason Knight said could have residents paying $1.50, commercial paying $3 and industrial $5 a month.

ARANSAS PASS, Texas — Potholes across the city have Aransas Pass officials considering a monthly fee to help patch and pave problem streets without raising property taxes.

Mayor Jason Knight said a proposed street user fee could have residents paying $1.50 a month, commercial properties $3 and industrial properties $5.

“We don’t have a large budget, so it’s hard to come up with funds for regular street maintenance or any kind of major road repair,” Knight said. “This could generate around $80,000 to $90,000 a year. It would be on a five-year plan, and at the end of year five, we would review it to see if the fee needed to be increased.”

Not everyone supported the proposal, including Vallee and Thomas Goodwin.

“For road maintenance that we already pay for, we’re opposed to it,” Vallee said. “I think there are other ways we could get these roads fixed. And while it’s only $1.50, that means a lot to some people with everything in the economy going up — water bills, gas, groceries, everything.”

“You’re already paying to have your streets taken care of,” Thomas said. “I agree this needs to be done, but it needs to be done within what you already pay.”

That sentiment was echoed by others during a City Council meeting earlier this week.

“Everyone’s paying attention to what Corpus Christi is doing right now because Corpus has the funding source,” Knight said.

Since then, the conversation has shifted.

“With the current water situation, that’s what really snuck up on us,” Knight said. “It felt like bad timing because no one knows what’s going to happen with water rates. Nobody’s been given a straight answer. I felt it was a good recommendation by the council, and they agreed to postpone this until a later date.”

Thomas said he is relieved the city is focusing on more pressing issues.

“My gut feeling is that our council is interested in our town,” Thomas said. “These are people who care about this town, and I think they’re dedicated to it.”

Knight said the city is now turning its attention to higher-priority concerns. For now, fixing the streets will have to wait.