LEBANON, Ohio (WKRC) - As thousands in greater Cincinnati are struggling to make ends meet, some are now getting billed thousands of dollars for sidewalk repairs. The timing -- and the optics -- are not good.
Usually, people in Lebanon are happy to see City Hall repairing and repaving streets, but these are not usual times.
"I was really dumbfounded,” said Randall Simon. He just received a certified letter from the city of Lebanon, stating that he needs to fix his driveway and the sidewalk in front of his home by late June or the city will do it for him and charge $1,711.
The letter explains the repairs are necessary to move ahead with the city's planned repairs and repaving. So, Randall called City Hall, explaining he and many of his neighbors are hurting financially due to coronavirus restrictions and asked the city to delay its plans.
"They said no,” Simon said. “We're definitely moving forward with this."
So, we called the city engineer who referred us to the city manager.
"I understand these are challenging times, and the timing is not ideal,” said city manager Scott Brunka. “Our options are either to move forward with the timing as it's laid out, or make the decision not to pave any streets this year."
The city manager told us, like every year, the work needs to get done before winter arrives. "Pushing the concrete work back a couple of months effectively eliminates the possibility of doing any of the paving work this year."
But at least Simon says he would forego some street repairs this year until he's able to patch-up his finances.
"They've picked a really tough time to be pushing forward with this project," he said.
The Lebanon city manager says actual bills will not go out for the concrete work until early 2021, and residents will have the option of spreading out the payments over five years.
