ARCADIA, Fla. — Potholes are practically unavoidable in many parts of Arcadia.
However, city officials told Fox 4 there's reasoning behind it.
"Arcadia is one of the poorest cities in the State of Florida," said City Administrator Terry Stewart. "Our median income here is extremely low, and there's not a lot of revenue around for us to accomplish a lot of these projects."
Stewart also said work is being done to mend the problem.
"On the south side you will find a lot of work that's been done on the repaved roads because we have rebuilt those utilities in those areas."
Several local residents said they're used to navigating them at this point.
Others brought attention to the potholes by placing creepy-looking dolls inside of one in Downtown Arcadia.
"It may not help with wear and tear, but living around here you kind of know which streets are better than others," said Arcadia resident and real estate broker Mac Martin.
Martin also sympathizes with the city.
"The main problem as with other public services is money," Martin said. "So, the taxable property values here are coming up, but still we're looking for assistance from our state taxes and maybe even some federal money.
Stewart also said it's not cost effective to repave roads until the utilities underneath them get rebuilt first. Otherwise, he said you're looking at short-term solutions.
Arcadia has come a long way in fixing its roads over the past decade. Stewart said the city didn't even have a program in place to repair potholes when he first started eight and a half years ago.
