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Transportation staff outline 20-year preservation plan, PCI 47; MCOG to study sales-tax option for roads
Summary
The county described its 20-year pavement maintenance plan (PCI 47 in 2022), capital projects and a potential countywide sales-tax measure; Mendocino Council of Governments will hire a consultant to test voter feasibility for a 1-cent sales tax that staff says could fund long-term work on additional surfaced roads.
Transportation leaders told the Board of Supervisors they are continuing a 20-year corrective and preventative maintenance plan for surfaced roads while exploring a local sales-tax measure to address unmet pavement needs.
Director of Transportation Howard DeShield (presentation team) said the county maintains 1,016 miles of county roads and is in year seven of a board-approved 20-year corrective/preventative maintenance plan funded with Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account (RMRA) funds created by Senate Bill 1. The county's pavement condition index (PCI) was 47 in 2022, compared with a statewide average of 65; the county report cites a 2022 statewide needs assessment that estimated $574 million of unmet pavement needs in the county over 10 years.
DeShield and the engineering deputy described how the 20-year plan treats about 357 miles of the county's roughly 675 surfaced miles, most often with double chip seal, full-depth reclamation and deep-digouts on worst segments. They emphasized that much of Mendocino's surfaced road network was historically built as wagon roads with layered chip seal and lacks modern engineered bases.
As directed by the board, staff told supervisors they asked the Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG) to investigate reserving a possible 1-cent local sales-tax measure for unincorporated roads. MCOG will hire a consultant this spring to analyze voter feasibility. Transportation staff said a 1-cent unincorporated sales-tax measure could generate an estimated $90 million across 30 years to treat surfaced roads not covered by the 20-year plan; staff described that projection as the basis of a 30-year expenditure plan—staff said they would treat, not pave, many of those roads using the most cost-effective methods available.
Transportation staff also said they hope any sales-tax revenue would allow restoration of 11 to 15 road-maintenance worker positions lost to budget constraints. The department outlined long-term capital projects (bridge replacements, Round Valley and North State Street projects, Round Valley airport work, culvert replacements, storm repairs) and said many of the listed projects are grant-funded with low or no local match.
Supervisors pressed staff about alternatives: converting low-use surfaced roads back to gravel or using dust-suppression programs, but staff said reversion to gravel often draws opposition from property owners and can generate dust complaints; staff said dust suppression requires repeated treatment and can be less effective than full stabilization. Supervisors also discussed the constraints of relying on federal/state grant eligibility (on-system vs. off-system roads) and the need to present the public with realistic options, including whether a half-cent or other tax level should be studied.
Ending: Staff will return with expenditure plans that translate additional funding levels into miles treated, potential restored positions, and geographic allocations; MCOG will begin a feasibility study for a sales-tax measure this spring.
