Public Works outlines special-district budgets; board questions SR 41 impact-fee accounting and consolidation options

The Madera County Public Works Department presented the proposed FY2025-26 special districts budgets on June 9, describing operations for roughly 120 road districts and 33 water and sewer districts and listing nearly $18 million in road-district fund balances.

Dominic Tyburski, Public Works, walked supervisors through maps and line-item tables showing lane miles, connections and proposed budgets by supervisorial district. Staff highlighted grant-supported water and sewer improvement projects (about $5.6 million completed recently and $9.1 million underway) and said Measure T has supplemented district work, enabling more miles of road surfacing in recent years.

Board questions: consolidation, right-sizing and evacuation routes Supervisors asked about opportunities to combine underfunded districts and to 'right-size' maintenance assessments where communities have paid low rates for decades and can't sustain needed upkeep. Supervisor McCauley urged staff to consider maintenance needs that affect evacuation routes and vegetation control as part of any consolidation or rate discussion.

Public comment and SR 41 fee questions A public commenter, Dan Metz of Sierra Citizens for Sensible Government, questioned a large apparent jump in road-impact fee revenue reported in the proposed budget. Metz said historical annual road-impact fees typically totaled $10'$12 million, but the proposed materials showed $26 million.

County staff responded that the $26.2 million figure reflects actual collections in the current fiscal year driven by development along the State Route 41 corridor; staff said the higher receipts were not an accounting error but current-year actuals. Staff also explained that the road-impact fee program is split between county/regional projects and funds earmarked for the SR 41 improvements. Any inter-fund loan or transfer to move county/regional fee balances into the SR 41 project would require a formal board action and a loan-and-repayment document under county rules.

Staff noted available project funding for SR 41 composed of federal dollars (about $26.9 million cited by staff), existing road-impact fee balances, and other sources such as enhanced infrastructure financing districts; staff estimated approximately $86 million in identified funding toward programming and construction steps but said the total project cost remains substantially larger and will be phased.

Why it matters: special districts manage local roads and water systems for small communities; underfunded districts and fragmented fee structures can produce deferred maintenance and raise public-safety concerns during wildfire and evacuation events. Board members signaled interest in outreach and town halls to gain constituent support for rate adjustments or consolidation.

Clarifying details and next steps - Public Works said the county oversees about 120 special road districts and 33 water/sewer districts; the presentation included lane-mile and connection counts by supervisorial district. - Staff said Measure T contributed approximately $2 million to road resurfacing work in the prior year, enabling more miles to be treated. - County will continue outreach to district residents to seek consent for consolidation or rate adjustments where feasible.

Ending Public Works said it will continue constituent outreach, pursue grant funding for water and sewer projects and return to the board with findings on consolidation and right-sizing options. The special-district budgets were included in the adopted county budgets the same day; any transfer of impact-fee balances into SR 41 funding requires a separate board action with documented loan and repayment terms.