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Some dirt roads in Collier County are in such bad shape that they are putting lives at risk, preventing emergency vehicles from getting through. That’s why the commissioners could pass a new tax tomorrow to pave them. Neighbors in Golden Gate Estates have tried to fix the problem themselves by filling potholes, but at the end of the day, most say some help from the County would be nice. Rhonda Bair says it’s a mess when emergency responders have to get down her unpaved private road. “They have trouble getting down there they have to slow down,” she said. For this exact reason, for your safety, Collier County commissioners could adopt an ordinance Tuesday to tax those around 97 miles of unpaved private roads. It would create a steady source of revenue for the County to make emergency repairs and pave over the affected areas. The County isn’t responsible for maintaining private roads. How much you pay is based on the rate applied to the taxable value of your home. From this, the County could generate as much as $293,000 a year which they could use to fix 32 miles each year. “My husband and a few of the neighbors got together and bought some rock and spread it across the road,” said Jessica Vergara. Vergara says that during the last 10 years, neighbors have taken it into their own hands. “If that’s all they’re going to do is make it passable–we’ve already done that.” She says she would like the County’s help, and wouldn’t mind paying a tax, but she wants the tax to do more than just emergency repairs. “We would like them to help us take over the privatization of the road and make it be maintained by county that would be excellent–that would be nice,” she said. Neighbors say it’s pretty costly to do it on their own. Other neighbors who didn’t want to appear on camera say they don’t want to be taxed at all.