IT'S GOING TO BE A BUMPY RIDE ON COUNTY'S ROADS:WITH STATE WITHHOLDING GAS TAX FUNDS, SUPERVISORS FACE CUTTING POTHOLE-PATCHING, TRASH REMOVAL

There may be more dead animals, more trash and more potholes on Sonoma

County's 1,378 miles of roadways because the state is withholding gas tax

revenues to ease its own budget crisis.

''We will have to prioritize our pothole repairs,'' county public works

director Phil Demery told supervisors Tuesday. ''We will patch only the

traffic hazards, and those on the side of the road we are not going to do.''

Demery said the Legislature's decision last month to delay passing along

gas tax revenues for six months will translate into an $800,000 cut in the

county's transportation and public works budget. The amount would have been

nearly twice as much if not for savings carried over from the budget year that

ended in June, he said.

Other cuts under consideration are discontinuing use of jail inmates to

clean county roads, eliminating a crew that repairs culverts and reducing

street-sweeping operations.

Supervisors will face a final decision on road maintenance cuts Sept.1, but

already they are aghast at having to trim programs that constitute basic

government services.

''When I hear from residents in my district, transportation is at the top

and health care is at the bottom,'' said Sonoma Valley Supervisor Valerie

Brown. ''Potholes and animal removal is what the public cares most about.''

One irony of federal economic stimulus dollars is creation of a false

impression that all the roads are going to benefit from the burst in

''shovel-ready'' construction projects,'' Brown said.

''We get an infusion of federal money, but we can't use any of it for local

operations,'' Brown said.

Supervisor Shirlee Zane said neglecting road maintenance would have

far-reaching effects, adding ''we depend upon tourism dollars and we can't

have highways that are littered.'' She said California should consider use of

toll roads.

Slightly more than half of the 2,680 miles of asphalt in Sonoma County are

maintained by the 73 workers in the county transportation department. The

state maintains main highways, such as 116, 12 and 101, and about 35 percent

of paved roads fall within city limits.

For years, the county's roads have ranked among the poorest in the Bay

Area's pavement condition index, with ratings dropping as the county has spent

less and less on reconstruction.

''The pavement condition index rating Sonoma County is at the bottom and

the trend is dropping like a rock,'' Demery said.

He said there is no guarantee the state will return gas tax money in 2010

and attempts to wrest it from the state may take another year.

Proposals for new road maintenance cuts come on top of $3.5 million in

other program reductions imposed in June. At that time, the county eliminated

25 positions in the transportation department, reduced asphalt use by 25

percent and consolidated facility operations in Forestville and Annapolis.

Demery said so many workers accepted early retirement offers in June that

layoffs were unnecessary, but any new cuts may mean the loss of 13 more

positions in the transportation department. Currently, the department employs

about 125 people, about half the number that worked there in 1990.

Dead animals that cause a traffic hazard, such as a deer in a roadway,

would be removed by maintenance crews, Demery said. County animal control

officers, who usually deal with live animals, may be called upon to deal with

roadkill as well, he said.

Trash haulers may be required to perform street sweeping as part of their

contracts, Demery said.

''It is not a pretty picture,'' said board chairman Paul Kelley.

''Reduction of state dollars means we will have less road work in the

future.''

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You can reach Staff Writer Bleys W. Rose at 521-5431 or

bleys.rose@pressdemocrat.com.