Citizens give city commissioners an earful about all kinds of things, but traffic tops the list – even if it is about congestion on county or state roads.

So, it’s no wonder commissioners expressed frustration when they saw the priority list for highway improvements Monday night.

“It’s really surprising to me that U.S. 27 is not on the 15-year project list,” said Commissioner Mike Pederson. “It’s a mess.”

A “bottleneck” is the way Commissioner Jay Connell described the daily backup all the way to County Road 48.

 “The state doesn’t have enough money to fix the roads,” said Mike Woods, executive director of the Lake-Sumter Metropolitan Planning Organization. The MPO, which is made up of elected officials, submits a suggested priority list to the state Department of Transportation each year.

“How do we get 27 on the priority list?” Mayor Allyson Berry asked.

The city needs to say it is a priority on the long-range planning list, Woods said.

The biggest problem overall is decreasing revenue from gas taxes, despite a booming population.

“Due to growth, it is predicted that vehicle miles traveled daily on the Lake-Sumter road network will almost double during the next 20 years,” the MPO stated in its 2025.

It’s not just a traffic slow-down problem. Lake exceeds the normal rate of collisions, Woods said.

Who is to blame for the shortage of funds?

The federal government, he said. It has not been adding the cost-of-living rate to the tax, which was last increased in 1992.

Woods said $2.5 million is allocated by the state every year for road improvements in Lake and Sumter counties.

Funding statewide plunged from $650 million to $161 million in recent years.

The problem was worsened by Covid, which decreased traffic, and newer, fuel-efficient cars, Minner said.

It’s not just the federal government that is not funding road projects.

Lake County Commissioners in September expressed support but failed to get the votes to increase the local option gas tax by five cents per gallon.

It adds to the friction between the city and county about growth.

A resident who lives in the Legacy retirement community on U.S. 27 read a letter from County Commissioner Kirby Smith urging the city not to annex 25 acres for 70 more homes in the Lake Margaretta development. The first phase of the project south of CR 48 and east off Number 2 Road is planned for 586 homes.

And yet, the Board of County Commissioners failed to increase road revenue, a frustrated Pederson told Lake/Sumter Style after the meeting.

City Commissioners approved the annexation and land-use 4-1, with Connell voting no.

“We have a political problem,” said City Manager Al Minner, pointing to a MPO priority map.  Explosive growth in portions of south Lake County and The Villages expansion in west Lake show even greater pressures, he said.