Today Duluth Mayor Don Ness delivered his third of four State of the City updates.

The presentation was taped by PACT-TV as part of the Mayor's quarterly program called "Duluth-This is Your City."

High on the Mayor's list of ongoing issues is the city's failing Sanitary Sewer System.

More on that below.

One of the biggest problems Duluth is facing is its failing infrastructure including its streets.

"Our street maintenance program, the filling of the pot holes, has been hit harder than than most divisions within city government, they have many fewer employee s in street maintenance than they did five–years ago and we're beginning to see the very devastating effect of that lack of staff," Mayor Ness said.

The Mayor's street plan focuses on three main elements....

The most expensive of which is stepping up a street rehabilitation and preservation program.

For example, a technique they'd like to use is the Mill and Overlay program where they take the top two – to three inches off streets that are starting to age, and recover them with black top.

This will not only make streets last longer, but they'll also be much smoother.

And then there's the sewer system.

"I reviewed the sanitary sewer issue and gave more of the detail on what the past ordinance entails there is a great deal of mis– information about that issue in particular and what the ordinance says and how its going to impact residents," Ness said.

The biggest worry for many Duluthians is whose going to pay to fix the sewers.

Homeowners are responsible for the cost of replacing failing pipes running between individual homes and the city system.

That can cost up to 8–thousand dollars.

That's a lot of money, but mayor Ness says individual homeowners will not face the cost of repairs alone.

Many folks are confused because if someone buys a home, the new ordinance requires a functioning sump pump within the first 90 days of a sale.

Mayor Ness said the city's current sump pump support program will remain in place.