Why Sacramento politicians want taxpayers like you to fix our broken roads | Opinion
Sacramento County’s Board of Supervisors has long acted as if county funds should barely be used to fix more than 2,200 miles of roads within its jurisdiction. Rather, they seem to believe that taxpayers should foot the tab for road upgrades by way of ever-higher sales taxes.
The supervisors’ intentional failure to adequately reinvest in county infrastructure, year after year, has led to the worst roads in the county —worse than any city. And now supervisors will discuss Tuesday whether the roads have gotten bad enough to motivate voters to approve another half-cent sales tax increase.
In a recent survey supervisors will also discuss Tuesday, the answer appears to be no. We’re all in for one bumpy ride.
Only 49% of county voters appear to be in the mood to approve a half-cent sales tax increase for various transportation needs, according to the survey funded by the Sacramento County Transportation Authority. That is a far cry from the two-thirds necessary for approval were STA to place a sales tax measure on the ballot.
This is one wicked problem because the baseline expectation of taxpaying citizens is that local government will, at minimum, maintain local roads along with providing adequate funding for public safety and parks.
But this is not the case in Sacramento County, the largest government in the region with $9.2 billion budget in the current fiscal year. Part of the problem is a lack of public pressure from county residents who couldn’t name a single one of five county supervisors, according to a recent survey commissioned by the supervisors themselves.
If the public really understood how derelict supervisors have been in setting aside money for potholes, they’d be far more inclined to elect new supervisors rather than to dig into their own pockets to pay higher taxes.
How big is this problem? One study last year estimated that Sacramento County would need more than $5 billion over the next 30 years to improve its road system. That breaks down to about $166 million a year.
How much general fund money did supervisors approve this year toward the problem? Only $11 million, according to county spokesperson Matthew Robinson.
A budget is an expression of an elected body’s priorities. And in Sacramento County, fixing the roads has never been one of them.
Who has the best roads?
Based on an STA study last year, every city in Sacramento County has better roads than in the vast unincorporated area. Based on a “pavement condition index” calculated by surveyors, Elk Grove is the only city with “very good” roads, with an index score of 77. Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Galt, Isleton and the city of Sacramento followed with ratings of “fair” roads. Citrus Heights has “poor roads,” with an index score of 48. At rock bottom is Sacramento County, with a pavement score of 41.
The longer the roads deteriorate, the more expensive it will be to fix them. It costs 10 times more to overlay a road in the unincorporated county, for example, than to maintain a good road in Elk Grove with a coat of surface seal, according to STA.
On the county board, Supervisor Rich Desmond stands out as the one who takes road maintenance seriously. But he’s only one vote. He also disproportionately represents residents in unincorporated communities who are suffering with the worst roads. For supervisors who represent cities, why spend money on what is disproportionately a county problem?
One solution, based on a quirk in state laws and court rulings, is for citizens to place a sales tax measure on the ballot rather than a government body like STA. But Sacramento County tried that in 2022 with Measure A. Funded largely by development interests, it focused far too much on building new roads than fixing old ones. And it went down to the defeat it deserved.
The public is grouchy about any new tax
Any sales tax increase, based on this polling of local public sentiment, would face some serious skepticism from county residents. Voters are in a grouchy mood about what they are experiencing every day. Only 20% said they think that this county is heading in the right direction. This is a steep drop from 2021, when 31% had positive sentiments.
Something eventually will have to give. The largest source of local funding for road maintenance now comes from the state gasoline tax. And as this source of funds goes down as the number of electric vehicles goes up, eventually a future governor and the California Legislature is going to have to do something, just to maintain the financial status quo.
It’s cheaper for voters in Sacramento County to elect supervisors who take potholes seriously than passing the responsibility onto taxpayers. New taxes should be about a partnership between the people and their government to make something better. The county has to make this a higher priority with its own money before it can ask the same out of the paying public.
This story was originally published December 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM.