By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Potholes are the top complaint Bloomington residents have registered on the city’s new mobile app.

MyBloomington received nearly 1,300 requests last year, about 10 percent (127) of them were about potholes that needed patched.

Public Works Director Jim Karch told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin because of cost, the city has to address primary roads first.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Karch on WJBC.

“That means that there is less service in front of your house, that means there are some potholes in front of your house,” Karch said.

Karch said the city spends about $5 million per year on road resurfacing. He said his department has the capacity for up to $8 million per year for road work – if it had the money.

“In the past we’ve thrown out huge, ridiculous numbers that we could never meet as a community so we are trying to say as a staff, how could we make it realistic so we could actually get to it,” Karch said.

“What that would take is doubling how much we put in our streets now.”

The leading requests on the MyBloomington app last year for building (276) and heating and air (218), came largely from city employees, according to city spokeswoman Nora Dukowitz.

Street lights can in fourth at 123 requests.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].