With 10 dump trucks, six pickup trucks and dozens of police and fire vehicles, the city has a sizable fleet. But the newest dump truck is from 1998 and the city's public works director, Darby Sprincz, said it's getting more costly to maintain the equipment.

Sprincz said public works crews are "replacing parts, machining parts, making our own things from stuff that we already put out as junk."

City Council members said they're aware of the problem.

"I don't know where we're going to get a patch truck this spring," said Councilman William Gentile. "We're all complaining about the potholes out there."

Officials said the head gaskets of the patch truck are blown out, the transmission is shot and the exhaust is bad. So this year, crews will be going back to the way they hauled blacktop before they bought the truck in 1975.

"Hauling it in a dump truck," Sprincz said. "It cools, you lose some material because of cooling, it doesn't remain good." He said the old-fashioned way also increases travel time because dump trucks can haul less blacktop than a patch truck.

Officials said the even bigger problem is there is no solution at the present time.

"We have no money to buy the new stuff. There's just no money," Sprincz said.

He asked that city residents have patience both when the roads are snow-covered and in the spring when crews are out patching potholes.

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