County outlines Measure K road-operations plan and $75 million in remaining storm-repair needs; board approves community development budget

The Santa Cruz County Community Development and Infrastructure (CDI) budget and a detailed breakdown of proposed Measure K spending on road operations were presented to the Board of Supervisors on June 10. Director Matt Machado provided district-level allocations and a three-part explanation of priorities: immediate storm-damage response, a culvert rehabilitation and replacement program, and pavement preservation.

Machado told the board that the proposed FY25-26 CDI budget includes $4.1 million of Measure K funding countywide, half for planning and half for public works, and highlighted $2.0 million proposed specifically to increase road operations (ditching, striping, paving and culvert repair/replacement). He provided a work-type percentage split and then translated that into dollars per district and dollars per person so supervisors could evaluate geographic equity. CDIstaff said the proposed allocation produced similar per-resident spending across the five supervisorial districts when measured against population and work-demand.

CDI also presented an analysis of storm-disaster spending from the 2017 and 2023 events. The department reported remaining estimated repairs of about $76.9 million to complete work from the 2017 and 2023 disasters (combined) and showed how those costs had been distributed by district; the 2023 storm damage hit the San Lorenzo Valley particularly hard and accounted for a substantial share of the remaining need. Machado said unrepaired sites are more susceptible to new storm damage and argued that investment in culverts and pavement preservation is the most effective resilience strategy.

Specific CDI figures presented to the board included: - Culvert inventory and condition: staff completed a first comprehensive inventory and reported hundreds of culverts in poor condition; CDI said it currently funds roughly $250,000/year for small culvert repairs and recommended an initial $1 million/year culvert-rehab program to begin addressing the backlog (estimated deferred-maintenance need on culverts cited at about $400 million). - Pavement-condition history: the countyPCI (Pavement Condition Index) in 2018 was 48 out of 100; CDIstaff previously estimated $24 million/year would be required to maintain that level and $49 million/year to reach a good standard over 10 years; CDI said current resurfacing averages are roughly $5 million/year and flagged an estimated pavement deferred-maintenance backlog around $300 million.

After discussion, the board voted to approve the proposed CDI budget and the Measure K spending plan as presented. Supervisor Koenig recorded a dissenting vote on final approval and voiced concern about diverting previously-identified Zone 5 Capitola Road culvert funds to the HSA restorations earlier in the meeting; CDI and the county executive explained that some timing and fund-balance changes make reallocation feasible this year but warned project construction may occur in later fiscal years.

Next steps: CDI will proceed with the Measure K allocations in the FY25-26 adopted budget, continue culvert inventory and prioritization work and return with the pending pavement-condition update this summer.