FEATURED COLUMNIST
$8M for Roads / $267M Work Needed
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ne of the most common service requests we receive is on the condition of a road or road repair. Often, we are asked, “Where do my taxes go?” “Why are the roads in the condition they are in?” After all, many residents pay thousands every year in property taxes and want to know why those funds aren’t being used to repair roads (or repair more roads). Here is an overview of our local roads, costs to maintain them, current conditions and where your taxes go. How large is the road network? irst, it’s important to understand the size and scope of the r o a d network that County maintains. There are approximately 600 centerline miles in the unincorporated county. Centerline miles represent the total length of a given road from its starting point to its end point. Just to put it in perspective, this is about the same distance as driving from Watsonville to Vancouver, Canada. What are the current conditions of our roads? oads have different designations such as arterials, collectors and local roads. An example of an arterial road would be Soquel Drive or Freedom Boulevard. Collectors would include Sumner or Clubhouse and local roads are the roads you most likely live on (residential roads). Most roads are local roads (comprising over half of the total centerline miles in the road network). Our district, the 2nd District, has 30 percent (the largest number) of centerline miles in the unincorporated county. The Pavement Condition Index (PCI)
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By Zach Friend, Supervisor, Second District
measures the condition of a road. Think of it as a test score on a scale of 0-100. Generally speaking, anything over 70 is a road in good condition. A road between 45-65 is in fair condition and below 45 is in poor condition. For arterials in the unincorporated county, the PCI is 64. The PCI for collectors is 54 while the PCI for local/residential roads is 40. What does it cost to maintain or repair the roads? hile construction costs are constantly fluctuating, one thing that is constant is that it’s much cheaper to maintain a road in good condition than to repair and rebuild a road in poor condition. According to Public Works, here are the costs per mile for doing road work on a road in good, fair, poor and failed condition. For a road in good condition, to do a single layer seal with no dig-outs, it costs approximately $141,000 per/ mile. For a road in fair condition (with a PCI in the 50-70 range for example), it would cost about $352,000 per/mile for a multilayer seal with dig-out work. This is the average range for our arterial roads. For a road in poor condition, $563,000 per/mile and includes a full overlay and dig-outs. Many of our local roads and some of our collectors fall into this category. For a road in failed condition, which includes many roads in the rural areas (including the Aptos hills) as well as some of the agricultural areas in Corralitos and some local/residential roads the cost for full reconstruction is close to $1.1 million per/mile. Where do my taxes go? he county has a different funding structure than cities. Over half of all
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County of Santa Cruz Public Works
Brodin Lane off Hames Road in Corralitos, before sealing (left) and after sealing.
county revenues come from the state and federal government. These funds are generally pass-through funds to provide mandated services such as health programs or jail programs. These funds are restricted and generally can’t be used for local road repairs. Approximately 22 percent of the county revenue comes from local taxes. These taxes include property taxes, vehicle license fees, taxes paid at local hotels and sales taxes. And while property taxes make
up about half of that 22 percent, only 13 cents of every property tax dollar goes to the County. This means, for every dollar of property tax you pay, only 13 cents goes to the County for services. So where does the rest of your property tax go to? The largest share, about 57 percent goes to schools while another 18 percent goes to local special districts, cities and the libraries. “Road Work” page 26
Back to School
ACROSS
1. *____ mater 5. *Graduate degree, acr. 8. Opposite of stereo 12. Defense ditch 13. Fishing rod attachment 14. More sure 15. One’s final notice 16. Dutch cheese 17. Golfer’s traction aid 18. *Half-year terms 20. At the summit of 21. Water nymph 22. Actor ____ Mahershala 23. Be a busybody 26. Metrical foot in poetry 30. Earlier in time, archaic
31. Become bony 34. Shakespeare’s tragic monarch 35. Labanotation founder 37. Theodor Geisel, ____ Dr. Seuss 38. Threshold 39. Relating to the ear 40. Weather advisories, e.g. 42. + or - atom 43. Widely esteemed 45. Most mature, as in fruit 47. Indian dish 48. Dashboard window 50. Female sheep, pl. 52. *”The Breakfast Club” punishment 56. Flower holders 57. Singles 58. High school breakout
59. Acoustic output 60. Overwhelming defeat 61. *Gym class test? 62. Catchall abbr. 63. *Geography class staple 64. Not talker?
11. Table scrap 13. Laces again 14. Milan’s La ____ 19. Manicurist’s office 22. Is it ____ wonder? 23. Hard on outside, juicy on inside 24. One of the Muses 25. Payment option DOWN 1. ____ of cookie fame 26. From a great distance 27. Chill-inducing 2. Stud site 28. Type of palm tree, pl. 3. Cripple 29. Council of _____, city 4. *Go to class in Italy 5. Mythological princess 32. *Back-to-School retail of Colchis event 6. TV cooking show pioneer James ____ 33. WWII general who became President 7. Contributions to the 36. *Faculty member poor 38. “Peace” with fingers 8. *Kind of choice 9. Black and white treat 40. TV classic “____ in the Family” 10. Less than average tide
41. Superlative of true 44. Lowest male singing voice 46. Small bomb 48. Christopher Columbus’ birthplace 49. Consumed (2 words) 50. Small ladies’ handbag 51. What one does at the altar 52. *College freshman’s new digs 53. International Civil Aviation Organization 54. Half as much as twice 55. ____-do-well 56. Every American’s uncle?
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www.tpgonlinedaily.com Capitola Soquel Times / September 2021 / 25
