MORRISVILLE - The cost of maintaining private roads in at least two Morrisville subdivisions has prompted cries for help from homeowners in private neighborhoods.

But Morrisville might have few, if any, options when it comes to satisfying homeowners in the Gables and Kelton II subdivisions.

Residents in those communities have asked the town to take control of private roads in their neighborhoods.

Doing so would make them public streets.

And that's a problem for the town and the subdivision residents.

"The Town Council does not have general authority to expend public funds for private needs," Town Manager John Whitson said in a statement. "So when the requests came in from two neighborhoods, we had to get creative with a solution."

That could mean an appeal to state legislators as early as October for the power to create a municipal service district for the purpose of converting private roads to public streets.

State law currently allows towns to create a special property tax district to finance any of the following nine functions: beach erosion control, downtown revitalization, urban area revitalization, transit-oriented development, drainage projects, sewage collection and disposal, lighting at interstate highway interchange ramps, off-street parking or watershed improvement projects.

Adding a 10th option to that list would allow Morrisville to levy a temporary property tax on homes in the Gables, Kelton II and as many as 12 other subdivisions in town.

Those neighborhoods, which officials say hold up to a third of Morrisville's population, were all built before 2001, when the town changed its development ordinances to disallow the construction of private streets.

The reason, according to a town-issued statement, is that private roads are typically built to "a lesser standard than publicly owned and maintained streets."

Town staff have proposed an additional tax of 10 cents per $100 of assessed property value for the conversion of some or all of the 42 private roads in Morrisville.

Stacie Galloway, a Morrisville spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that the tax would remain in effect "until all costs for the conversion are recovered."

Galloway added that a majority of homeowners in each subdivision would need to sign a petition asking the town to add their neighborhood to the tax district.

The process of gaining signatures began this week with the first of 14 community meetings to inform residents about the legislative process and recruit homeowners to canvass each of the 14 eligible neighborhoods.

Whitson said Morrisville wants to ensure that it has the backing of its citizens before approaching state legislators with their request.

"Our legislators like to see that the voters want what the government asks for," he said.

"We do not yet know if it's something they want. We do know that it's the only way to help these neighborhoods ... with the budget we currently have."