THE State Government has labelled the Port-Enfield mayor "juvenile and misguided" by moving to palm off the council's responsibility for local roads.

The council voted on July 10 to ask other councils to support lobbying the State Government to take over responsibility for local roads.

State Transport Minister Patrick Conlon said: "The proposition by the Mayor of Port Adelaide Enfield (Gary Johanson) that we take over all of their roads for a dollar is perhaps the most juvenile and misguided comments by a mayor I have ever seen."

The motion will be put at the next Local Government Association (LGA) meeting in October.

Mr Johanson said rates would drop "enormously" if councils no longer controlled the construction and maintenance of roads.

"It is unfair on the battlers in our community to be funding on going repairs that cost quite a bit," Mr Johanson told the Portside Messenger.

"Our local roads are home to almost 70 per cent of the state transport industry and the roads are being worn away at an increasing rate - road construction is one of the council's biggest costs and it causes council rates to rise.

"We need to get back to basics of what a council should do and what it's there for so we can drop the rates."

Mr Conlon said he was staggered by the move, which would place an "an impossible burden on the SA taxpayer".

"I can't imagine any other council making such a silly proposition and it leads me to question whether they are really taking this seriously because I've never seen anything like it," Mr Conlon said.

Mr Johanson said the State Government had a "moral responsibility" to take over the running of local roads.

"The government might not want to know about it, but I believe the maintenance of the local roads should be funded by money received from fines, car registration, fuel and all other tax costs that were initially created to cover the local roads," he said.

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" ... If we are able to get all the roads looked after by one entity it would be much cheaper for South Australians rather than having multiple councils looking after it."