Merced County residents want better roads. Streets to get upgrades, thanks to COVID funds
Responses to a three-month survey on how to spend Merced County’s almost $54 million in Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) are in and the results are clear: Residents want better county roads.
Over 9,600 responses were recorded from Oct. 15 through Jan. 31, nearly all from Merced County locals hailing from unincorporated areas and the region’s six cities. Questions asked participants to rank their highest priorities for the community, ranging from public health to infrastructure to public safety.
“Roads really jumped out far and wide ahead of the others,” said Assistant County CEO David Mirrione at Tuesday’s County Board of Supervisors meeting.
The clear need expressed by the community led the Board of Supervisors to unanimously approve an allocation of $10 million for road reconstruction and resurfacing projects in the fiscal year 2022-23 budget using SLFRF dollars.
“Everybody’s got road issues. It’s what connects all of us,” Supervisor Scott Silveira said.
“We have not started on a specific road that is going to be paved,” he added as a clarification. “I want people to understand that isn’t the level of detail.”
Specific improvement projects will come before the Board of Supervisors for approval later on, once plans have been hashed out by county staff. But the SLFRF dollars will give Merced County’s roads a much-needed boost, addressing one of the community’s most common gripes.
Part of the federal American Rescue Plan Act, SLFRF is intended to help jurisdictions with pandemic-caused needs, like filling government revenue shortfalls, supporting populations hit hardest by COVID-19 and funding necessary public infrastructure improvements.
Merced County gets its nearly $54 million in two equal tranches. The first was received May of last year and the second is scheduled for this coming May.
Mirrione described the money as “once in a lifetime funding” that can be leveraged to make “generational impacts.”
The recent community survey results also indicated that Merced County residents want to see more homeless services, better public safety, housing, park improvement projects and improved water and sewer infrastructure. The responses prompted the county to revise some its original SLFRF plan from last year.
Ultimately, the Board of Supervisors approved $2 million for the Homeless Navigation Center split into two allocations during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 fiscal years. Public safety is slated to get $6.5 million during the next budget cycle.
The Black Rascal Flood Control Project will get an additional $4.7 million, adding to the $2.5 million in SLFRF dollars the project previously received as part of the 2021-22 budget.
Support for managing COVID-19 will receive $350,000 for testing and vaccination in the 2022-23 budget as well.
An additional $11 million for community facilities, including several HVAC, library and park projects, was approved as part of the 2021-22 budget, too.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday also gave the green light to allocate 100% of the SLFRF funding as revenue replacement, meaning it can be used to provide county services up to the amount of revenue lost due to the pandemic.
Using the funds as revenue replacement allows maximum flexibility in allocating SLFRF dollars toward the broadest range of projects and programs, according to county staff.
“I think we’re trying to do the best we can with what we’ve got,” Supervisor Rodrigo Espinoza said.
