Will the roads be allowed to deteriorate further? Or should the city spend money from emergency reserves on road maintenance?

A new road status report for Saratoga, financed in part by a grant from the Federal Highway Administration, shows that the overall condition of Saratoga's roads and streets is in the lower range of a "very good" designation.

The report gives Saratoga roads 70 out of a possible 100 points. A report prepared in 2001 had given an identical score to Saratoga's roads.

Still, the city is paying a high cost for deferred maintenance. The report indicates that the cost of keeping the roads and streets at their current level would cost the city $1.8 million every year. The figure was $1.5 million in the 2001 report. The estimated money set aside for roads in the next budget cycle is $650,000.

"If we continue with the existing level of maintenance, our roads and streets would be in very poor condition by 2014," said John Cherbone, public works director for the city.

According to the report, the condition of the main roads in the city-- Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, Saratoga Avenue, Pierce Road and Allendale Avenue--has improved by four points.

"That is because we have been spending most of our money on these arterial roads," Cherbone said. "We have also been focusing on the worst of the residential streets."

Seagull Way and Norton Road, two residential streets that were in a state of disrepair, have recently been renovated.

The report allows city staff to determine which of the streets will require priority maintenance. Cherbone said that the new road report would help extend the life of the roads in the city.

"Under existing conditions, it will be a while before we see a significant drop in the quality. But the deficiencies will accelerate over the years," Cherbone said. "It starts out slow and then the score goes down rapidly."

The tight budget situation has prevented the city from doing any preventive maintenance on the roads.

"The idea is to do enough work on the streets so that they stay good for a long period," Cherbone said.

Mayor Kathleen King said that the city had been able to maintain the roads at the current level despite the budget crisis because of a VTA measure that gave money to cities for pavement management.

"We received about $600,000 every year. This is the first year that we haven't gotten it," King said.

The mayor said that she had heard some talk of another VTA measure that would give money to cities for road maintenance. "I think they are looking at various options," she said.

The report also states that $3.15 million would have to be spent on roads annually if the city hopes to get a score of 80 in 2014.