In Mt. Lebanon, roads and sidewalks will be paved with good intentions and a bit of long-term debt.

Monday, commissioners voted, 4-1, to approve a bond issuance of roughly $2.1 million that would earmark $1.8 million for streets and the rest for sidewalk work.

It's not the first time Mt. Lebanon has borrowed to fix streets. Municipal Manager Stephen Feller said that up to 60 percent of street work was funded this way at various times over the last 15 years.

Sidewalks have always been included in the general budget.

The history of this project goes back more than six months, when commissioners approved a 2009 budget that considered a $7.1 million bond issuance that would include streets, as well as improvements to recreational facilities such as the pool, ball- fields and tennis center.

Along the way, the recreational improvements were shelved, but streets --and how to pay for them -- remained the focus.

It's customary to begin road work in the spring, taking advantage of better weather. Mt. Lebanon only recently awarded its contract for roads.

"We had an unusually difficult budget year," said Mr. Feller. "We had several relatively new commissioners who had to evaluate the condition of the municipality and its needs, so it did take a little longer, but that's just part of the process."

In the earlier stages of the street/sidewalk discussion months ago, sidewalks had been removed from the general budget, which helped lead to a tax decrease.

"This saved the average Mt. Lebanon resident 15 or 20 dollars as tax decrease, and that's all fine, that's good, but in the process, that money was supposed to go to sidewalks," said Dan Miller, 5th Ward commissioner.

Mr. Miller said his ward -- which includes the busy Cochran Road and Cedar Boulevard areas -- needed the sidewalk work and at the time voted to keep sidewalks in the budget.

His objection to folding sidewalks into the bond issue was made clear during a public hearing at Monday's meeting.

After fellow commissioners John Daley and Joe DeIuliis said they would vote, reluctantly, in favor of amending an ordinance to allow funding streets and sidewalks through this particular bond issuance, Mr. Miller, calling it a "flawed policy from the start," said he was against the municipality taking on more debt.

"It's like the gas bill you pay every month. If you pay that with a credit card, are you really paying your gas bill?"

During the residents' comments portion of the meeting, Bill Matthews urged the commissioners to find another way of paying.

"The debt issue is a travesty," he said. "Why aren't streets in the operating budget?"

"If we are paying for this up front, it's $2 million. We are now going to pay $3.7 million, eventually," Mr. Miller said Tuesday.

The remaining two votes in favor of bond issuance came from Dale Colby and Raja, who said they, too, wished there were some better way of finding the funds.

"I think it's a balancing act," Raja said. "With that, I will be voting 'yes.' "

Twenty-one bids were taken from four competing firms Monday morning for the general obligation bonds, with a true interest cost of 4.501 percent. They will mature in 2028.

Low bid was from Roosevelt & Cross.