SOUTH COUNTY — The cities of Gonzales, Greenfield, King City and Soledad will receive an estimated $15 million over the next decade for their transportation system after California legislators approved Senate Bill 1 last Friday, April 7.
Senate Bill 1, the $52 billion state transportation bill authored by Sen. Jim Beall, will raise money by increasing gas taxes and vehicle license fees over the next three years. The package will also include a fee for electric vehicles, which are currently using the road system but not contributing through the gas tax.
Over the next 10 years, Gonzales will receive $1.94 million, Greenfield will receive $3.99 million, King City will receive $3.25 million and Soledad will receive $5.89 million. Overall, Monterey County is estimated to receive $21 million per year through the bill.
“This is exactly the type of leveraging we were looking for when our agency began efforts to become a self-help county,” said Debbie Hale, executive director of the Transportation Agency for Monterey County. “SB 1 provides a substantial down payment on the more than $1 billion of unfunded transportation needs in Monterey County.”
The bulk of the funds will be used for “fix it first” maintenance, such as existing county roads, city streets, state highways and bus transit.
Funding is expected to start flowing to the cities and counties in early 2018.
