It’s beyond disappointing to learn that, despite voter approval of a special sales tax to fund street projects, the city is falling even further behind in its efforts to maintain city streets.

Mark Thiel, assistant public works director, told city commissioners last week that declining funding has predictably resulted in an upswing in general street deterioration across the city. The city’s pavement maintenance program focuses on basic work like filling cracks and potholes and replacing pavement, curbs and gutters. Such work not only improves roads in the short-term but also helps put off the need for major replacement projects down the road.

The program, which was created in 2005, was designed to operate on $6 million a year. Unfortunately, the city hasn’t maintained that level of funding in its budget. The decline started in 2012, when $5.7 million was allocated. Funding dropped to $4.4 million in 2013, $4.3 million in 2014, $3.6 million in 2015 and $2.8 million this year.

With that kind of drop, it’s not surprising that city street crews are falling behind.

This is not what Lawrence voters were promised in 2008 when they approved a three-tenths of 1 percent sales tax dedicated to improving Lawrence streets. At that time, the city needed to play catch-up on its streets and voters knew that a large portion of that sales tax would be used to rebuild deteriorated streets. But the sales tax also was sold on the basis that it would free up additional maintenance funds to keep other streets from falling into a similar state of disrepair.

Several major projects were completed on Kasold Drive, Iowa Street and Wakarusa Drive, but now it seems that the shortage of maintenance funds may be continuing the cycle of allowing streets to deteriorate until there is no option but to rebuild them. The city now has a backlog of $6.6 million worth of deferred projects.

Some Lawrence residents may remember that, by law, the infrastructure sales tax passed in 2008 was required to sunset in 10 years unless it is extended by a citywide vote. The end of that 10-year window is not so far away.

Those who voted for the tax in 2008 hoped that the city could cut its maintenance backlog, not watch it grow. With that in mind, voters may not be eager to reauthorize the tax, but how much worse will Lawrence streets get without that revenue?