Funding roads should be priority in capital budget

La Crosse’s city department heads have put together a big wish list of projects they want to undertake as part of the next city budget. It is a long list, totaling $77 million in new requests for city money to complete their pet projects. Not all will get funded, of course. The list will eventually be whittled down to about $7.5 million in new spending.These are simply requests, hoping to convince the mayor and council members that their projects deserve city funding. Among the requests, $10 million for two new fire stations in the city. And the parks department is asking for $2.5 million to build new tennis courts, including an indoor court, at Forest Hills. An indoor tennis court would be nice, but is it necessary? The fire department says we need more fire stations, to increase response time to emergencies. Those tasked with paring down this wish list will have their hands full making decisions about what to fund. But it seems the highest priority for new city spending should be fixing our roads. Repairs of more of Losey Boulevard could cost more than $2.5 million. A fix of La Crosse Street, which the city wants to fix because the state will not, could cost $10 million. There are no easy decisions here, but it seems that keeping us from getting swallowed up by the huge holes in our roads should be a higher priority than new tennis courts.