Insufficient road maintenance is a top source of frustration for El Dorado County residents.  Thus it is no surprise that at the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors Special Budget Meeting on April 19, road funding was the significant topic.  By the end of the discussion it was clear that county residents and/or visitors may soon be asked to pay additional taxes to keep the roads in adequate condition.

County Director of Transportation Rafael Martinez provided the Board with an overview presentation of road maintenance funding.  According to Martinez, the County has about $20 million in annual funding for transportation maintenance (including snow removal).  Available funding has decreased by 8 percent over the last seven years, while expenses increased 35 percent.  This has forced the county to dip into its road fund reserves with deficits projected to continue in future years.

In 2017 the State of California implemented Senate Bill 1, an additional gas tax and vehicle registration fee which was sold as providing adequate funding to fix roads.  Unfortunately, according to Martinez, it was not able to close the county’s deficit.

District 1 Supervisor and Board Chair John Hidahl suggested that the county consider a 2022 ballot measure to increase sales taxes for roads. However, District 3 Supervisor Wendy Thomas noted that “our county does not have an appetite for increased taxes”. Reflecting on her experience as a Placerville City Council member when the city was successful in passing a sales tax measure, she noted that, because the city is small, residents could easily see the impact of their tax dollars – something that may not be the case in a geographically large county.  She said all supervisors would need to be fully supportive and enlist “champions in every community” for a tax increase proposal to have a chance of passage.

As president of the El Dorado County Taxpayers Association, I addressed the Supervisors and cautioned that voters are going to “want to know what the county has done to get what the state promised” before they consider approving a tax increase.  I suggested that any tax measure would need to be “ground-up”, developed by the community instead of sold to voters after being designed by County staff.

An increase and/or expansion of the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), which visitors pay when they stay in a hotel, motel, or vacation home rental in unincorporated El Dorado County, was also discussed as a method to raise needed funds for road maintenance.  In March, the Board approved allocating a portion of TOT to address the impacts of tourism, including road maintenance and snow removal.

The Board took no action on the road maintenance item at the workshop, however the discussion of funding options is certain to continue during fiscal year 2021-22 budget discussions and beyond.