Butler City Councilman Mitch Ufner is right in pushing for stepped-up street-repair efforts. Many city streets are victims of decades of neglect; the deterioration is not just due to the financial crisis of recent years.

But Ufner should rethink his proposal for a Nov. 7 general election voter referendum on the question of whether the city should borrow money for street repairs — paving the way for an increase in the real estate tax to pay off that debt.

Council members were elected to make difficult decisions as well as easy ones. Therefore, having been entrusted with that responsibility, they alone should decide whether it is in the city's best interests to pursue street-work borrowing and the accompanying tax implications.

It's human nature to vote against higher taxes, regardless of the need. However, it is council members who presumably have a better perspective regarding the city's needs and the decisions that are necessary.

Opting for a referendum would amount to a cop-out, or abdication of responsibility, by the council, since the council already wields the power to raise taxes for debt service without a referendum.

People on both sides of the issue of higher taxes have the opportunity to voice their opinions by attending council meetings or calling council members to talk about the issue. In this instance, those are the forums for gathering public input.

The general election ballot should not be burdened with the streets question.

Ufner wants to borrow about $120,000 — a low amount, considering the need — for street repairs, which would necessitate about a two-mill tax increase. The city is technically at its taxing limit, but could impose a tax increase dedicated to street work.

Instead of debating the pros and cons of a potential referendum, the council should focus on the main issue of if, when and how streets issues should be addressed. And, based on those decisions, the council should determine funding.

If the council intends to wait for voter concurrence before pursuing any major streets initiative, the streets might never be repaired.

And, the voters have ample justification for saying no to a higher city tax: County government and the Butler School District haven't given property owners much relief from tax increases over the past half-decade, and the county commissioners said in December that a county tax hike for 2007 is likely.

The streets/tax decision in the city is the council's, whether individual council members like it or not. They are the best judges of what needs to be done and when.

Unfortunately, if this community wants to deliver the message that it is a city on the move, it cannot choose the do-nothing option for its neighborhoods and main thoroughfares. The reason city streets are in their current deteriorated condition is because city leaders of the past failed in their responsibility to keep up with maintenance and improvements.

The street-repairs decision Ufner is seeking is in the council's court. That's where it should stay.