Personnel from various agencies within Scotts Valley gathered Sept. 19 at the city’s Performing Arts Center to hear the annual “State of the City” address.
Hosted by the Scotts Valley Senior Life Association (SVSLA) and presided over by SVSLA President David Hodgin, attendees were treated to presentations by Mayor Randy Johnson, City Manager Mali LaGoe, Police Capt. Jayson Rutherford, Fire Chief Mark Correira, Superintendent of Schools Tanya Krause and Water District Manager David McNair.
At the top of the event, Mayor Johnson presented the city’s 2024-25 Strategic Goals, including preparing the Town Center land for development, upgrading the wastewater treatment plan, improving the efficiency of day-to-day operations and improving roadway conditions.
In addition, key accomplishments for the year were shared, including adding turf to the Little League field, creating the Parks Master Plan, re-opening the Siltanen Pool, focusing on wildfire preparedness and celebrating $2.6 million in new grant funding for the city.
Residents have been waiting for over 25 years for the Town Center to take shape, so hearing that environmental cleanup was underway, the design had been updated and the development partner selection process was in progress was great news to the audience.
The city’s $10 million Capital Improvement Plan is focused on bettering the city’s infrastructure: a new public works building, roadway improvements and critical wastewater treatment plant infrastructure upgrades are all part of the vision.
On the flip side, the city’s long-term financial situation shows the general fund surplus and reserve forecast heading into the red. Low property taxes, rising costs in labor and supplies, the impacts of Covid-19 and decades of deferred maintenance on roads, parks and buildings were named as causes of the projected annual operating loss of $2 million to $2.5 million per year.
Another critical need cited for the city is additional housing. The Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) requirement is to plan for 1,220 additional homes over eight years, with 803 of those being affordable housing. The city is determined to surpass that requirement, with Scotts Valley’s Housing Element planning for 2,140 homes, with 1,058 of them falling in the affordable range.
In terms of upcoming items, Johnson discussed voting in favor of Measure X on the Nov. 5 ballot. Measure X, the Business License Tax Modernization measure, is slated to create a tiered tax rate for businesses based on annual gross receipts, with a $150 minimum tax for all businesses and a progressive tax rate from 0.100% to 0.180%.
The one exception are storage facilities, which historically have low labor costs, high profit margins and tend to generate more calls for service from the police department. Should the measure pass, storage facilities would be taxed at 0.500% of annual gross receipts.
Traffic enforcement and crime were the focus of Capt. Rutherford’s presentation, noting that city police officers made nearly 3,000 traffic stops and cited about half of those drivers. Crime is down in the city by 14%, with theft down 5%, arrests down 8%, and officer-initiated activity down by 1%.
The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, Junior Police Academy and National Night Out events were all well-attended, and city officers enjoyed participating in the Cops-n-Rodders Car Show at the annual Art, Wine and Beer Festival held at Skypark. For 2025, the police department is looking forward to installing a next generation 911 program and focusing on road safety, especially with the rising number of e-bikes on the road.
Chief Correira of the Scotts Valley Fire Department provided a glimpse into challenges that the department is facing, including the need for the community to pass Measure S, a $24.5 million bond that will help to replace the existing Erba Lane fire station with a seismically safe one. The bond was brought forward as Measure W in 2022, but failed to pass, leaving fire personnel working in an inadequate and unsafe structure. With Erba Lane personnel responding to over 1,600 of the department’s fire calls, the need for a sound and safe venue is necessary, and Correira was consistent in his pleas for the measure to pass.
Superintendent Krause of the Scotts Valley Unified School District provided a deep dive into the activities and successes of her schools, including the need for upgrades at Brook Knoll and Vine Hill elementary schools, and a request for passage of Measure O, which will provide a multitude of improvements across the district: multipurpose rooms and new playground equipment at the elementary schools, solar panel installation at all sites, air conditioning in all classrooms, technology and bandwidth upgrades and basic infrastructure repairs.
Although Transitional Kindergarten was added to the elementary sites in 2022-23, there has been a gradual decline in secondary site enrollment, leading to a downward trend in financial stability. Based on the annual district expenditures, there is a $3.3 million funding gap. Krause outlined the issues: SVUSD is one of the lowest funded districts in the state, there is an ongoing effort to stay competitive with staff salaries and declining enrollment and lower attendance, which impacts the district’s general fund.
Although Krause is facing financial hardships across the district, she celebrated the selection of Scotts Valley Middle School as a California Distinguished School as well as the outstanding district performance both academically and sports related. Finally, the high school is opening a Wellness Center on campus to provide students with access to mental health support, crisis support and education.
The last presenter to take the helm was McNair, manager of the Scotts Valley Water District, who outlined the drought reprieve brought on by the storms of 2023 and 2024. The statewide drought map shared during the meeting denoted that while the majority of the state faced either extreme or severe drought in 2022, the same map showed a complete turnaround of challenging conditions in 2024, with only a tiny percentage of the state recording their water monitoring feedback as “abnormally dry.”
Local rainfall conditions increased the cumulative intake of rainfall to 106% of a two-year cycle, demonstrating that the 2024 rainfall was 80% of the historical average. As groundwater levels increased across the basin, normal operating conditions were declared in May 2023 and have remained in place since then.
Pumping from the Santa Margarita Basin has dropped dramatically, and McNair was quick to praise the implementation of the WaterSmart detection program as a tie-in to those reduced rates. Between 2019 and 2023, there was an 81% decrease in customer-side leaks, with 5.4 million gallons per year saved.
Additional opportunities for consumer financial savings exist in lawn replacement rebates, increased pressure regulator rebates and rebates for toilets, pool covers, rainwater catchment and weather-based irrigation controllers.
The well-attended forum ended with treats, beverages and the opportunity for residents to connect with presenters and agency representatives.
