With the city of San Diego compelled to pay more than $11 million in damages over the past five years because of injuries resulting from poorly maintained sidewalks, city leaders are looking at an ambitious long-term plan to reduce the problem.

As The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Thursday, the city is considering ramping up annual spending on sidewalk repairs from $2 million to $5 million to $9.6 million. It may also increase from $300,000 to $2.4 million the amount of annual subsidies it offers to homeowners in its 50-50 program in which the state and property owners share the cost of repairs. Because repairing sidewalks is the legal responsibility of the owners of the property that the sidewalks are in front of — not typically the city — such subsidies amount to smart incentives.

But the very first step that Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the City Council should take on this issue is to scrap a huge disincentive to such repairs: the $2,000 in fees that property owners must pay for the permits they need to fix sidewalks on their own. Councilman Chris Ward says the city of Los Angeles charges only $150 for such permits.

If you’re wondering why San Diego has a backlog of at least 81,000 sidewalk repairs, those absurdly high fees are on the short list of the reasons. If you’re wondering why this didn’t occur to anyone at City Hall a decade ago, you’ve got a lot of company.