The Grand Jury received complaints from residents of New
Cuyama and Goleta, regarding the poor condition of their roads and
sidewalks. Pictorial evidence was provided to justify the
complaints. Subsequent interviews with the Director of the Public Works
Department and several county supervisors showed that the situation is widely
recognized and understood as resulting from a lack of funds to repair all
county roads. The Grand Jury made an investigation into this situation to
verify that the lack of funds is the problem and, if so, to prepare a report
that clarifies the situation so that it may be understood by county residents.
The County has built more roads than they can afford to
maintain. The County cannot afford to maintain the roads that they already
have. Practically speaking, the County has abandoned many roads in rural areas.
Grand Jury Finding 1:
County non-rural roads appear to be properly maintained, but many rural
roads are essentially being abandoned for lack of funds. Presently, more than 30 percent of rural
roads are in failed condition and would require reconstruction to be made
whole.
Public Works Response to
Finding 1: Public Works agrees that 30 percent of the
rural roads require costly reconstruction.
Although the Public Works Department does not provide surface treatments
to these failed roads, the Department continues to monitor the road safety.
BOS Response to Finding 1:
The Board adopts Public Works’ response as the Board of Supervisors’
response (partially disagrees).
Grand Jury Recommendation 1:
The Board of Supervisors (BOS) and PWD should reexamine the allocation
of transportation funds between capital projects and road maintenance with the
goal of increasing the funds for road maintenance.
Public Works Response to Recommendation
1: Public Works has analyzed and will continue
to monitor all Transportation funding opportunities for road maintenance. Although local governments receive a portion
of State Gas Tax funding for road maintenance activities, the vast majority of
Transportation funds are provided by State and Federal Gas Tax collections for
capital projects that relieve traffic congestion, improve air quality,
replace/modify substandard bridges or road safety improvements. These competitive funds are administered
either by Caltrans or by Regional Transportation Planning Agencies (RTPAs)
throughout the State. The RTPA in our
area is the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments. Road maintenance activities are either
ineligble for the competitive, categorical funding or such activities do not
compete well with the more visible capital projects. Measure “D” funding is a local sales tax revenue that is used for
both road maintenance and capital improvement funding. The Board of Supervisors annually approves
the Measure “D” programming of projects which includes maintenance
activities. Increasing the Measure “D”
funding for road maintenance activities and the corresponding reduction in
capital improvement funding would be a policy decision of the Board of
Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors
have allocated County General Fund dollars towards road maintenance activities
in the past and have most recently designated $1.0 million in fiscal year
2000/2001 for additional road maintenance activities.
BOS Response to Recommendation 1:
This recommendation has been implemented. Each year, the Board examines and approves Public Works’ “Measure
“D” Program of Projects” and the “Road Maintenance Annual Plan” which details
all the planned road maintenance projects and funding and seeks to ensure that
highest priority needs are being met.
As can be seen by Public Works’ comments in their response to the Grand
Jury (copy attached), the vast majority of Transportation funds received are
from State and Federal Gas Tax collections specifically for capital
projects. Measure “D” funding is the
primary source of local discretionary dollars that the Board of Supervisors can
use to make strategic decisions on Road Maintenance.
Some portion of Measure “D” money is allocated to Bridge
Maintenance, which is, by definition, both a
“capital project” and Road Repair and Maintenance (see response to
Finding 2). By using Measure “D” money
for this purpose, the County is able to substantially leverage Measure “D”
funding. The Highway Bridge Replacement
and Rehabilitation Funding (HBRR) provides a match equivalent to 80% of the
cost of the project, meaning that the County pays only 20% of the cost of
Bridge Maintenance Capital Projects.
This provides additional flow of dollars into the County for our
Transportation Infrastructure System.
Finally, to increase the goal of increased funds for Road
Maintenance, the Board of Supervisors allocated $1 million from FY00-01 General
Funds to help address this need.
Grand Jury Finding 2:
The Board of Supervisors is not adhering to the priorities established
in their Resolution 89-465. The resolution states: “. . . PRIORITIES: I. It is the intent of
the County to use sales tax proceeds to fund fully the road repair and
maintenance program . . . ”
BOS
Response to Finding 2: The Board of Supervisors disagrees with this
finding. With the exception of a small
amount of money that, by ordinance, is required to be spent on paratransit
services, all of Measure “D” sales tax proceeds is used on road repair and
maintenance. The confusion lies in the
definition of “Road Repair and Maintenance.” By definition, it encompasses four
fully integrated components of a complex Transportation Infrastructure System:
·
Pavement
Repair and Restoration
·
Concrete
Hardscape Damage Repair
·
Storm
Drainage Facility Repairs and Reconstruction
·
Bridge
Maintenance
The Grand Jury Report focused on “Pavement Repair and
Restoration,” noting that we currently have a $59 million backlog. The Board of Supervisors agrees with this,
but notes that this backlog has been reduced from $78 million over the last
five years. The total backlog of all
Road Repair and Maintenance is $118 million.
Being sensitive to the critical need for adequate maintenance of the
transportation infrastructure system, the Board of Supervisors supplemented
Measure “D” funds by $1 million from General Funds in FY00-01.
Grand Jury Recommendation 2:
The Board of Supervisors should reexamine their priorities for use of
Measure “D” funds.
BOS Response to Recommendation 2:
This recommendation has been implemented. Each year, the Board examines and approves Public Works’ “Measure
“D” Program of Projects” and the “Road Maintenance Annual Plan” which details
all the planned maintenance projects in the above listed four categories and
seeks to ensure that highest priority needs are being met.
It is important to understand that funding must be allocated
in all four areas to maintain a stable infrastructure. It is unreasonable to expect that all of
Measure “D” Sales Tax funds should be allocated to Pavement Repairs, because to
do so, would in effect further degrade our Transportation Infrastructure system
by not repairing concrete hardscape, storm drains, and bridges. Resolution 89-465 provides the proper
guidance for allocation of funds. The
real problem is not in use of funds, but in lack of sufficient funding to
adequately maintain our transportation infrastructure system.
Grand Jury Finding 3:
PWD needs more than $3.5 million per year beyond their current budget to
arrest the deterioration of roads and to begin reducing the backlog of roads
needing repair. Measure “D” language and Board of Supervisors Resolution
89-465 permits more of Measure “D” funds to go for road repair and
maintenance.
Public Works Response to Finding 3:
Public Works agrees with the finding.
BOS Response to Finding 3:
The Board adopts Public Works’ response as Board of Supervisors’
response.
Grand Jury Recommendation 3:
To correct an imbalance of Measure “D” funding allocated among the
County Districts, the Board of Supervisors and PWD should consider allocating
funds by road lane-miles and population on an alternating year basis.
Public Works Response to Recommendation
3: The recommendation is being analyzed along
with other formula options. The Board of Supervisors recently agreed to modify
the County’s Measure “D” allocation based upon unincorporated population within
each of the Supervisorial Districts to a formula allocation based upon 75%
unincorporated population and 25% road lane-miles (3 years population
distribution and 1 year road lane-mile distribution). This formula allocation will be reviewed by the Board of
Supervisors and the Public Works Department at the end of the fiscal year to
determine whether further adjustments need to be made.
BOS Response to Recommendation 3:
This recommendation has been implemented. At its regularly scheduled June 6, 2000 meeting, the Board of
Supervisors considered various options for distribution of Measure “D”
funding: Population by district
(current allocation), lane mile allocation, 75% population/25% lane mile
formula allocation, 50% population/50% lane mile formula allocation, 25%
population/75% lane mile formula allocation, and an unfunded pavement backlog
allocation. The Board of Supervisors adopted a formula allocation based upon
75% unincorporated population and 25% road lane-miles (3 years population
distribution and 1 year road lane-mile distribution). In addition, the Board agreed to allocate the $1 million from
General Funds using this same formula at its regularly scheduled July 18, 2000
meeting. The Board will review the
results of this formula change at the end of FY00-01 to determine if further
formula adjustments, such as the 50-50% allocation recommended by the Grand
Jury, should be made.
The Board of Supervisors has allocated $1 Million from the
General Fund to supplement Measure “D” sales tax proceeds. This will partially address the Grand Jury
identified need for increased road maintenance. As recommended, the Public Works Department is analyzing
re-allocating Measure “D” funding. The
Grand Jury acknowledges the complexity of the transportation infrastructure
system and the lack of sufficient funding to maintain it. The Grand Jury’s recommendation to allocate
funds by road lane-miles and population on an alternating year basis has been
implemented.