The perilous state of our county roads
In 2017, Santa Cruz County had a crisis: Storms that hammered our region left already deteriorating roads in even worse condition.
And the bill then to get potholes filled, washouts and slipouts repaired, and trees and slides cleared was estimated at $70 million.
Six years later, after another series of storms dealt a knockout punch here, the county again will need a massive infusion of state and federal funding to repair roads and other public infrastructure — about $42 million and counting in the unincorporated areas of the county.
And these county road damage estimates don't include repairing Santa Cruz city's West Cliff Drive and road damages in the cities of Watsonville, Capitola and Scotts Valley. Or the extensive damages in the park at Seacliff State Beach. Total damages county wide could top $200 million, according to county officials.
Help is on the way, but, as always with government funding, there are several catches.
Last week, the California Transportation Commission allocated more than $988 million to repair and improve transportation infrastructure throughout the state, including more than $450 million from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and more than $250 million from Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
So that's a good thing, since some of this nearly $1 billion will come here.
In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is coordinating and providing access to financial assistance programs for the storm damages.
In a recent meeting with the Sentinel Editorial Board, the county's Director of Public Works Matt Machado explained that FEMA will pay
75% of the cost of repairs and the state will kick in another 12.5%. The county will have to come up with 12.5%. Sounds doable, right?
A couple of problems. One is that Santa Cruz County is still paying for those 2017 damages to roads that even then were ranked in the bottom tier in terms of overall road conditions, statewide.
Beyond that, it can take years for the county to see full FEMA and state reimbursement.
Machado also noted that Santa Cruz County has had to borrow internally to stay up on road repairs, mainly because in terms of property tax revenue, we're one of the poorer counties in the state. This may seem far fetched since home prices have been in the $1.2-$1.3 million price median range in recent years, but the reality is Santa Cruz County keeps only 13 cents of every dollar collected in property tax, far below what most other counties in coastal California get to keep. This low allocation dates back to 1978 and Proposition 13, when rates were frozen and allocations were based on public spending within a county. At the time, Santa Cruz County was a low spender. Moreover, of that local revenue, more than 85% goes to education, leaving not much for local infrastructure.
Add to that our topography — lots of winding mountain roads — and the task is daunting.
One thing that will help is the federal emergency disaster declaration made last month by President Joe Biden, unlocking federal assistance for the county and state. In his January visit here, Biden also pledged to bring “every element of the federal government together” to aid in the short- and long-term recovery effort.
Machado noted that local residents have high expectations for improved roads, but the reality is that the county was still working through a backlog of repairs from 2017 when this new tidal wave of devastation hit. To try and keep up, the county is having to partially rely on private contractors to fill potholes. As for what roads get fixed first, the county relies on a scoring system to determine which ones are highest priority.
The best hope is to take advantage of the federal emergency declaration and to leverage the state's SB1 funds and get as much work done as possible while waiting for other sources to come through.
Which means, try to avoid potholes and, frustrating and, difficult as it is, wait your turn about getting your neighborhood road fixed.