Butler's streets will go unpaved another year.

At Thursday's meeting of the city's redevelopment authority, Perry O'Malley, interim executive director, said the authority received no bids on the estimated $180,000 project that would have resurfaced at least eight streets.

An expanded paving project will be advertised in January, O'Malley said.

Street paving was a priority for Butler City Council this year as paving has been suspended for the past three years because of the city's financial crisis. Council expects to have a specified deficit by year's end.

After two rough winters that turned many streets into Swiss cheese made of asphalt, city council turned to the authority this spring, asking for help in the form of grant money to get streets paved.

Councilman Mitch Ufner, Streets Department Supervisor Ralph Graham and other city officials drove and ranked streets in need of paving, developing a priority list.

The grants being used for paving are federal Community Development Block Grants, which are intended to help low- to moderate-income city residents.

Therefore, the authority had to conduct an income survey to qualify each street for the project. Streets must have at least 51 percent of the residents meeting federal low- to moderate-income guidelines.

Franklin Street did not qualify for paving, while Walnut and Wallula avenues are still be surveyed.

"People have not returned their surveys and so we are having to go door-to-door," O'Malley said.

The streets that have qualified are:

East Cunningham Street from Whitehill to South Monroe streets.

New Castle Street-Mercer Street around Doughboy Park.

Ridge Avenue from Mercer Street to North Sixth Avenue.

North Chestnut Street from Jefferson to Brady street.

New Castle Street from Mercer to Broad streets and from Broad to Chestnut streets.

Brown Avenue from Glen Avenue to the city-township line.

West Brady Street from Washington to Broad streets.

O'Malley said local contractors were not interested in the street-paving project for a number of reasons.

First, the authority asked for bids late in the summer when many contractors had already booked projects for their paving season.

Paving can only be done at certain temperatures and once the cold hits, work stops.

The wet summer is also to blame, O'Malley said, explaining that many contractors were delayed in finishing other projects because of rain and floodwaters.

He also said that the project's federal funding could have put off local, small contractors who are used to setting their own wage rates.

"Because we are using federal money, contractors have to conform with federal prevailing wages, and not many local guys are interested in dealing with that," he said.

While the authority waits to re-bid the project in January, O'Malley said he expects more income surveys to be completed and some additional grant money to be added to the project so that additional roads can be paved " … as soon as the weather breaks in the spring."

In January, the paving project will also include the paving of Negley and Virginia avenues that are scheduled for the installation of new storm sewers in the spring.

"We'll add that to the project and in the end this paving contract will be around $350,000," O'Malley said.