The proposal, which comes to the council Monday, would use the revenue from a quarter-cent increase in the city sales tax for six years for road maintenance and new construction. The city would promise not to increase the impact fees for new home and business construction for five years as a compromise that gets business support for the plan.

The council will hold a public hearing at its 3 p.m. Monday meeting, and members are expected to vote then on whether to put the proposal on the April 9 city primary ballot.

Another candidate, Mike James, running in southeast Lincoln's District 2, has also indicated he would vote to put the issue on the ballot if he were a council member. However, James said he will not be voting for the proposal itself.

"We need to see the city partner with street contractors to improve the design of the streets and the quality of the installation before we do a temporary sales tax increase to catch up the backlog,” James said.

Mayoral candidates to vote

Two of the mayoral candidates, who serve on the City Council, will vote on the quarter-cent plan Monday. The council needs five votes to put the measure on the ballot. It is expected Leirion Gaylor Baird will be among the yes votes and Cyndi Lamm will vote no.

Mayoral candidate Jeff Kirkpatrick has suggested the plan include language that guarantees some of the new funding would be used for residential street maintenance. Currently, the plan only guarantees a specific percentage of funding for new arterial street construction.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSNancyHicks.

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