Here’s a great cost-cutting suggestion from Public Works Director Chuck Soules: Residents who want traffic-calming devices in their neighborhoods should have to pay for those structures through special assessments on their property taxes.

City officials still would have to approve the structures, but shifting the financial burden to property owners probably would move at least some of these projects from the “must have” list to the “it might be nice” list.

Traffic-calming devices, such as traffic circles and speed humps, currently are paid for out of the city’s general fund. That means the city as a whole, not the neighbors making the request, pay for the project. Since almost all traffic-calming projects are initiated by neighborhood residents, not the city at large, it only makes sense for the funding to follow the same path.

Neighborhoods with a serious traffic problem probably would be willing to foot the bill for new traffic structures. Or they might choose to push for alternative measures like increased enforcement of speed limits or a less expensive traffic control effort.

It’s always easy to spend someone else’s money. Having residents spend their own money on traffic-calming devices might ensure more thoughtful consideration of the need for such structures.