By Patricia Decker
The Public Press
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| Photo Courtesy of Sandy Girl via Flickr. |
If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget plan becomes law, drivers may have rougher roads ahead, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.
But San Francisco will not experience the same cuts in road maintenance service as other counties because of outside funding sources.
As part of the plan to close the $24.3 billion budget deficit, the governor is proposing that 75 percent of gas-tax funds destined for cities and counties be diverted to pay for transportation-related state bonds.
This decision comes at a time when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering a $388 million bond measure to fund street resurfacing and streetscape improvement projects for the next five years.
For many counties, the gas-tax revenues are the sole source of funding to road repairs. San Francisco residents will be relatively unaffected, as the Public Works Department secures most of its funding from other sources such as the bond measure.
Other Bay Area counties will be severely impacted. If the budget becomes law, Alameda County’s public works department will only be able to respond to emergency repairs, but not much else, according to the article.
Delays in repairs are more likely across the city, and a public works representative estimates that roughly 100 jobs will be lost as a result of the gas-tax shell game.
The Budget and Finance Subcommittee will discuss the bond measure on Wednesday, June 17, at 10 a.m. in City Hall.
