Despite a tight budget, the city next year needs to spend an additional $1.2 million on street maintenance to prevent many city streets from falling into an unacceptable condition, city commissioners were told today.

Chuck Soules, the city’s director of Public Works, said his department needs $6.5 million in funding for street maintenance for 2008 to aggressively prevent city streets from falling into significant disrepair.

“Every year that we defer full funding for street maintenance, we’re adding on to our future costs,” Soules said. “I can definitely tell you that the costs aren’t getting any cheaper.”

City commissioners stopped short of saying they could fund the full amount. A majority of commissioners reaffirmed that they are not interested in raising the city’s property tax rate for 2008.

Commissioners also heard a variety of funding requests from several other departments during the second day of budget hearings. Commissioners heard presentations from the Police Department, Parks and Recreation Department, Utilities Department, and several others.