The City of San Diego has a backlog of more than 81,000 city sidewalk repair projects.
Currently, the city splits the costs of many sidewalk repairs in half with the property owner and it can take more than a year to get your sidewalk fixed.
If a property owner wants to fix their sidewalk themselves, they must get a permit from the city, which can cost approximately $2,000.
Councilman Mark Kersey says in many cases the permit costs more than the actual repairs and so it doesn't make financial sense for property owners to do the work.
"Technically, in almost every case, the property owner owns the sidewalk and is legally responsible or technically responsible for its maintenance and upkeep. The problem is if someone trips and falls and hurts themselves under state law, the city is liable," he said.
As a result, Kersey says the city has faced millions of dollars in lawsuits from people who are injured on bad sidewalks.
"The city winds up paying out millions of dollars every year in trip and fall claims and sometimes they're pretty bad. So what I would like to do is spend a lot less money on those claims and a lot more money on fixing the actual sidewalk problem," he said.
The council's infrastructure committee will meet in February to see how to fund sidewalk repairs in the future budget.
