City of Santa Cruz uses gas tax funds for storm drain repair

A Central Coast city putting your gas tax dollars to work. The City of Santa Cruz has finished work on four storm drain projects.

Senate Bill 1 is what raised the gas tax by twelve cents. Now, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 gave Santa Cruz the $125,000 it needed to make repairs. Funds the public works department says are necessary.

Though many may not know Senate Bill 1 by name, it’s impacted nearly everyone in the state, adding an extra twelve cents a gallon at the gas pump. Something many aren’t happy about, but officials here on the Central Coast say it’s a good thing.

“We’re able to fix these minor storm drain projects that make the roads safer, maintain them much longer,” said Public Works Director Mark R. Dettle.

So far the City of Santa Cruz Public Works Department has finished four storm drain improvement projects around the city. Projects that didn’t have enough funding to be worked on sooner.

“Storm drains are general fund typically and there’s very limited dollars for cities and counties to deal with,” Dettle said.

Residents on Vista Bella Drive near Highway 17 complained to Public Works about flooding in their area. The city finished the repairs and upgrades more than a month ago. The repairs included new drain pipes and a catch basin. The city says the SB 1 funds will help them make even more repairs citywide.

“It goes really a long way for the cities and counties and we can really leverage that money, bring in a lot more improvement than just that small amount,” Dettle said.

The City of Santa Cruz has another $300,000 in SB 1 funds to use this fiscal year. Over the next ten years, they’re expecting to get $18 million.