WEST SACRAMENTO — West Sacramento has a pothole problem.
City Manager Aaron Laurel said there were 838 potholes reported last year – a number that has risen more than 300 percent in just the last five years.
“We have a lot of older roads in our city that take a beating,” Laurel said.
CBS13 first reported in March about a pothole vigilante who spray-painted white circles around all the potholes on a mile-long stretch of Sacramento Avenue along with protest messages saying “fix potholes” and “I pay taxes.”
“We do our best with the current resources,” Laurel said. “We have to keep pace with it.”
Now, the city council wants to pay for more roadway improvements by placing a full-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot.
“We really need the money,” West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero said.
It could also pay for bringing back a fire engine that was cut from the budget in 2012 and other public safety and core services. If passed, West Sacramento would have the highest sales tax rate in the region at 9.25 percent.