George Moise, 3, of Lawrence, rides his big-wheel tricycle near Eighth and Louisiana streets as his grandfather, Bill Brock of Des Moines, Iowa, walks behind, April 4, 2015.

City commissioners shot down a recommendation Tuesday from Lawrence’s Pedestrian-Bicycle Issues Task Force to ask voters in 2019 for a 0.05-cent sales tax increase to fund sidewalk repairs.

The recommendation was part of the task force’s 37-page document outlining problems for pedestrians and bicyclists in Lawrence and possible solutions. Commissioners gave feedback to the task force in a study session Tuesday in order for the group to make changes and present a final version to the city by March 1.

The potential sales tax increase — the first item pointed out as unfeasible by commissioners — was estimated to generate $850,000 per year, providing the city enough funding to bring public sidewalks and curb ramps to ADA compliance by a 2030 target.

The estimated cost for the city to repair damaged sidewalks and bring them to ADA compliance is $9.5 million, according to the task force’s draft report.

Though the task force overall had “done a very good job” and was “headed in the right direction,” Mayor Mike Amyx said, the tax increase was “a hard sell.”

“I don’t want to call it D-O-A, but I would have a hard time supporting an increase in sales tax,” Amyx said. “Sales tax is already extremely high.”

Marilyn Hull, who chaired the task force, said the commission’s reaction was “not a surprise.” She said the task force would work before March 1 to find where reallocations in the budget could be made.

The Pedestrian-Bicycle Issues Task Force was established last year with the purpose of giving one voice to pedestrian and bicycle advocates and creating these recommendations.

Commissioners discussed other aspects of the document, which brought to light the miles of gaps in sidewalks, broken sidewalks, unconnected bicycle paths and a fragmented network of organizations that advise the city on pedestrian and bicycle issues.

“We believe we should build a transportation system for every citizen, even those who can’t drive, afford a car or maybe even afford bus fare,” Hull said. “All of our recommendations are centered on one simple question, and that is how we welcome, encourage and support all means of travel in Lawrence.”

Much of Tuesday’s conversation centered on sidewalk repairs.

Though the task force recommended the sales tax increase to fund $9.5 million in sidewalk repairs, commissioners weren’t sure it was in the city’s purview to step in at all to repair sidewalks.

State law and city policy currently requires property owners to maintain sidewalks.

City Engineer Dave Cronin explained that the city currently enforces the policy only when it receives complaints about sidewalk damage. Property owners are notified and given several opportunities to respond before the city has the authority to make the repairs and bill the property owners, which, Cronin said, the city has never done.

“The challenging thing is, when you send a letter and then they call and say, ‘I want to fix it, but I need to buy a prescription for my kids’ or ‘I need to put food on the table, how can you make me repair the sidewalk?'” Cronin said.

The task force has called the policy “politically unenforceable.”

The city enforcing the policy on more than a complaint-driven basis would be “extremely resource intensive,” Interim City Manager Diane Stoddard said. Stoddard also said the city taking on the responsibility of repairs would require a “dramatic” change in resources.

“It’s problematic if we look at taking resources from existing street maintenance responsibilities because we have a significant backlog as it is,” Stoddard said. “And those needs are ongoing.”

Commissioner Stuart Boley said the city wasn’t currently viewing sidewalks as a “vital part” of Lawrence’s transportation system like it should be.

“I don’t think we really do that if we don’t make it possible for people to get around,” Boley said.

He said he wanted to see an incremental approach to the city taking over sidewalk maintenance, and Commissioner Lisa Larsen agreed.

Commissioner Matthew Herbert said the task force should prioritize filling in sidewalk gaps.

The report states Lawrence has 72 miles of streets that do not have sidewalks on either side. The task force estimated it would cost $10.5 million to create sidewalks on one side of every street in the city.

The task force, among other things, wants city staff and a commission dedicated to pedestrian and bicycle issues.

Hull said Tuesday the new commission was recommended as a consolidation of the city’s Traffic Safety Commission and Bicycle Advisory Committee. Commissioner Leslie Soden suggested it also include public transit representatives.

“We put that in because those in the bicycle-pedestrian community believe our input is not solicited at all or solicited fairly late,” Hull said. “A street reconstruction is developed and then we’re asked for our opinion. It would be helpful to have those voices in there a whole lot earlier so we feel like we’ve had a voice throughout and we’re not just somebody at the end expected to rubber stamp something the city has decided to do.”