Fixing potholes is expensive, especially for a city like Toronto where there are so many.
That the city claims to be strapped for cash doesn't help, but at least one city councillor is looking west for answers.
Winnipeg has an idea on how to cut pothole repair costs, and
Karen Stintz wants to follow its lead.
Corporate-sponsored road repair is being considered in Winnipeg to help reduce its costs and Stintz has drafted a similar motion to see if that plan could work here too.
"People realize and they know that the potholes are bad and the roads need to be fixed and we do have budget problems," the Eglinton-Lawrence rep admitted. "So if we can be creative around how we solve it, it's better for the citizens, it's better for the streets and it's better for City Hall."
Toronto's budget for road repair is $25 million annually. And for a council that's been crying poor for months, proponents argue this approach would ease the financial burden.
And the 'Adopt-A-Pothole Program', as it might be humourously dubbed, would hardly mark the first time corporate cash has come to the rescue in the GTA.
MasterCard kept the skating rink open at Nathan Phillips Square two years ago and Future Shop gives computers to city schools.
So will sponsored road repair be the next step?
Toronto Mayor David Miller is among the first to admit cash is always in short supply but says companies can't be relied upon to fund critical priorities like roads.
"I wouldn't want the city to be dependant on a boon year in auto sales, therefore your roads get fixed," Miller said. "You need to repair the roads properly, it's something that should be paid for through the property tax system."
The motion will be presented to council at the end of May and if it passes Canada's largest city could usher in a new era of corporate-sponsored road repair by next summer.
Toronto's Pothole Problems Persisting At Record Rates