Road Maintenance

Position paper paper #07-03 of the El Dorado Hills Citizens Alliance
Approved by Citizens Alliance board of directors 2/10/2007

Summary

Road maintenance is inadequate in El Dorado Hills. Many streets in areas built out around 15 to 20 years ago have declined into poor to failed condition (PCI < 55) while maintenance continues to be deferred..

This is also true throughout the County. It is true to varying degrees throughout California. The major cause in all cases is very significantly inadequate funding.


Discussion

El Dorado County is seriously underfunding road maintenance. In 2005 Tom Celio, EDC Department of Transportation Deputy Director for maintenance, presented a proposal to catch up on deferred maintenance oved 25 years by spending $5.5 million per year. This is not happening,

El Dorado County DOT  road maintenance and operations, data and quotation below extracted from FY 2006-2007 budget

Performance indicator	Actual FY 04-05	Adopted FY 05-06	Estimated FY 05-06	Proposed FY 06-07
Miles of chip seal applied	61	60	60	0
Miles of pavement overlay	8.43	2	6.03	2
Percent of County maintained roads in excellent condition (PCI > 85)	38%	37%	37%	30%
Percent of County maintained roads in poor to failed condition (PCI < 55)	35%	35.5%	35.5%	42%

ROAD FUND

Operations & Maintenance

The proposed FY 2006-07 budget for the Road Fund is $25,054,408. In FY 2005-06 the department identified a structural funding problem that would impact service levels in FY 2006-07. This has resulted in the elimination of the chip seal and overlay programs for this fiscal year. The department’s revenues include a contribution from the General Fund (in lieu of Measure H funding) of $1.75 million and an additional General Fund contribution of $1 million to address storm damage from the extreme winter experienced last year. The total General Fund contribution for road maintenance is $2.8 million. Use of Road Fund fund balance is budgeted at $1,826,132 to fund the department’s road operation and maintenance program leaving approximately $500,000 remaining so that the road fund maintains a minimum unreserved fund balance for operations.


Possible ways to secure additional funding for EDH road maintenance

Incorporation as a city was estimated to add about $1 million per year in new revenue to El Dorado Hills for the Road Fund from gas tax allocations available only to incorporated cities.

Road fund economics as an incorporated city, data extracted from the 2005 incorporation project Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis.  Net revenue is gross revenue minus an annual revenue neutrality payment to the County of $731,300. In a future city incorporation the number least predictable in advance is the amount of a revenue neutrality payment to the County. This payment represents the balance of revenue generated by EDH minus the amount spent in EDH.  (This is the annual cash flow of Road Fund revenue generated here and not spent here.)

Sensitivity analysis scenario		Fiscal Year
		2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
2005 growth rate, historic VLF revenue	Gross	$2,695,673	$2,878,957	$3,062,782	$3,259,510	$3,444,367	$3,545,631	$3,660,001	$3,582,668	$3,710,968
	Net	$1,964,373	$2,147,657	$2,331,482	$2,528,210	$2,713,067	$2,814,331	$2,928,701	$2,851,368	$2,979,668
25% reduced growth, historic VLF revenue	Gross	$2,559,813	$2,699,836	$2,840,287	$2,990,440	$3,131,714	$3,210,317	$3,298,774	$3,139,935	$3,237,782
	Net	$1,828,513	$1,968536	$2,108,987	$2,259,140	$2,400,414	$2,479,017	$2,567,474	$2,408,635	$2,506,482
2005 growth rate, 2005 VLF revenue		Not applicable:  AB 1602 restored VLF in lieu fees to historic rates, with minor differences in first 5 years of incorporation
25% reduced growth, 2005 VLF revenue