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Extracted from Consolidated Report
This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.
El Dorado County Grand Jury
• 2000-2001
Department of Transportation Maintenance
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings 3 findings
F1
Page 171
No evidence of improper or wasteful expenditure of road maintenance funds was found. Response to Finding F1: The respondent agrees with the finding.
F2
Page 171
Although the 2001/2002 Road Maintenance Budget has increased from last year, the new amount is still inadequate to prevent further road deterioration. Response to Finding F2: The respondent agrees with the finding.
F3
Page 171
The DOT engineering staff at South Lake Tahoe lacks adequate space to efficiently perform all of the duties required at this site. This is due largely to the added workload generated by work on the Lake Tahoe Clarification Project. Response to Finding F3: The respondent agrees with the finding.
Recommendations 2
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R1Page 172The County should develop additional sources of funding for road maintenance to prevent further deterioration of the county road system and allow work to start on repairing past deterioration. Response to Recommendation 1: The recommendation has been implemented. Infrastructure maintenance is an increasingly critical issue throughout California and the United States. The overall condition of public roads has deteriorated due to insufficient funding in a majority of California’s local jurisdictions. Funding for road purposes in El Dorado County has improved in the last year. In FY 2000/2001 the County began receiving three new sources of road funding that resulted in $1.5 million overlay programs in fiscal years 1999/2000 and 2000/2001, and an increased chip seal program, amongst other new efforts. While this amount of new funding will not finance the complete restoration of the County’s roads, it is already making a significant, positive impact. The Board of Supervisors, with the assistance of its Department of Transportation staff, is in the process of preparing a policy framework for allocating the new Measure H vehicle in-lieu fees amongst several under-funded transportation needs, including regional road maintenance, local road maintenance, bridge maintenance, bridge rehabilitation and replacement, and operational and safety projects. In 2001 a series of 12 meetings were held throughout the County to solicit input from the public on this matter. Measure H resulted in an increase $1.5 million to the Road budget. In addition, the Governors Traffic Congestion Relieve program, although geared to high-density metropolitan areas, provided some maintenance relief to rural areas. El Dorado County will receive approximately $600,000 that will be used for road maintenance. The process of developing this policy framework will provide the Board of Supervisors with an opportunity to discuss the relationship of existing revenues to needs, and it will ensure that these new funds are spent in the areas where the need is determined to be the greatest. At that time, the Board may choose to pursue options for additional transportation funding. Key to any discussion of additional funds for transportation will be the relative need of many other under-funded priorities including facilities, parks, etc. Recent discussions regarding possible uses for any monies obtained from the tobacco settlements are illustrative of the many unmet needs that the County must weigh in its budget decisions. Given the competition for limited discretionary funds within the County’s budget, the most likely sources of new funds would be obtained through the creation of a new 1 73 revenue source. The most common of these in California is an increase in the local sales tax for transportation purposes. The County of El Dorado has twice pursued possible increases in the sales tax, the most recent in the mid-1990s. That effort was terminated for a number of reasons, including the difficulty of achieving a 2/3 affirmative vote required under Proposition 218.
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R2Page 173The County should act in a timely manner to procure adequate facilities for the DOT engineering staff at South Lake Tahoe. Response to Recommendation 2: The recommendation has been implemented. Though not yet completed, the Departments of Transportation and General Services have been working on an on-going basis to identify additional office space for the Tahoe engineering unit of the Department of Transportation. The primary issue is the overall lack of suitable commercial office space in the South Lake Tahoe area. The few potential candidate properties that have been available were investigated. Currently, the Department of Transportation is pursuing a suitable site. The Department of Transportation is also considering alternatives to traditional office space, such as portable space, and office space in Nevada or the western slope of the County. Should this problem continue the Department of Transportation will be making appropriate recommendations to the Board of Supervisors to ensure that the South Lake Tahoe engineering unit can deliver priority projects, particularly those identified in the Environmental Improvement Program for the Tahoe basin. Responses Required for Findings