WARREN, Ohio - The City of Warren is making plans to help homeowners keep up with their sidewalks in a more affordable and accessible way.

In a proposal from Warren Councilman at Large Ken MacPherson, the city would use ARP funds to create a 'sidewalk inspection and replacement program' for homeowners.

As it currently stands, the city's website says "It is the homeowner's responsibility to repair their sidewalk, but the Engineering Division does arrange for the repair of sidewalk damaged by trees planted between the sidewalk and the street."

With this proposal, the city would hire a service to fix the sidewalks. Homeowners would then repay the city for the repairs, but at a much lower cost than hiring a private contractor.

In the same way that buying things in bulk is typically cheaper, the city hiring a service to fix up entire neighborhoods at at once could reduce costs by nearly 50%. MacPherson estimates that reduced cost to be about $250 per square of concrete, versus $400 to $500 dollars per square for a homeowner to have their sidewalks fixed by a contractor.

The proposal includes second part that entails a repayment plan to the city. Homeowners would also pay Warren a revolving fee to keep up with the sidewalks, which will sustain this program for years to come.

"Our neighborhoods are our biggest asset," said MacPherson. He says that this is a use of ARP funds that will directly help Warren residents.

A meeting to discuss the proposal was previously set for Monday afternoon, but will be rescheduled. The meeting will begin the process of writing legislation to put this plan into action. MacPherson hopes the program will be able to begin repairing sidewalks in 2023.