At the same time, they say potholes and crumbling pavement are the No. 1 complaint of residents.

Kannapolis received its last annual share of state Powell Bill funds — about $1.27 million — in October. That brought its total money available for street repairs to $1.6 million. The state collects Powell Bill funds from gasoline taxes and redistributes it to cities and towns based on population and street miles.

“If that money is on hand and in the city’s coffers, then I wonder why we haven’t spent it on desperately needed repaving,” said Councilman Bob Misenheimer, retired principal of Northwest Cabarrus High School.

Monday night, council members agreed to pay REA Construction Co. $429,000 to repave a group of streets that has not been determined.

City Manager David Hales said more money will be spent this year on road maintenance.

“I do not see a need for this large a fund balance,” Hales said. “You’ll see a more aggressive spending plan for upcoming projects.”

Monday night, City Council members also were split on where new sidewalks should go in a city largely without any.

The council voted 5-2 — with Richard Anderson and Phil Meacham opposed — to ask the state for money to pay for a sidewalk from the bridge of Oakwood Avenue south to the intersection with Orphanage Road, in the Coddle Creek area annexed last year. The project would include a crosswalk to a new park that Cabarrus County is building there.

Anderson said the city should pursue money for more sidewalks around Loop Road and Main Street, a three-mile circle popular among walkers and joggers. Last year, city officials asked the state for money to add three crosswalks and walk signals along the loop. State officials refused.

“So many people walk the Loop Road, it would seem we would have gone back and made that request again,” Anderson said. “We have literally hundreds of people who walk the Loop Road, and it would seem to get greater priority.”

Meacham said that in a city with few sidewalks, areas closer to downtown deserve them before Coddle Creek.

“There are places in town where people have lived 50 to 60 years without sidewalks, and if we start putting down sidewalks in areas that are only 10 to 15 years old, there’s going to be some hard feelings,” he said.

Considering the state already denied the Loop Road proposal, Hales said other sidewalk projects could stand a better chance of funding.