Firefighter operations engineer Brandon Hale points out deteriorated windows and cracked walls at the Santa Clara Fire Station No. 5 on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. The fire station is dilapidated with current structural damage and requires complete demolition. It was rebuilt into a larger, more efficient fire station. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Santa Clara, in the heart of Silicon Valley, known for innovation and wealth, has struggled for decades to maintain its aging infrastructure.
Many city facilities, such as parks, community centers, fire stations, and swimming pools, reached the end of their expected useful lives several years ago. But the city of Santa Clara has historically not had a revenue stream to maintain or replace physical assets, leading to infrastructure needs that are currently $624 million underfunded, the city manager said. says Jovan Grogan.
This growing problem came to light when the George F. Haines International Swim Center, a storied facility widely considered Santa Clara’s crown jewel, closed due to safety concerns that had been neglected for decades. He came to prominence at the beginning of the year.
Santa Clara’s plight is not unique. Bay Area cities are grappling with similarly aging infrastructure and significant funding challenges to address deferred maintenance.
“This is literally the cost of replacing a lot of facilities that were built in the ’50s and ’60s,” Grogan said. “Many of them are aging at the same time.”
In neighboring San Jose, the city’s park maintenance budget alone is estimated at more than $544 million, according to city spokeswoman Carolina Camarena. And across the bay in Berkeley, the city’s underdeveloped infrastructure is expected to total $2.1 billion by the end of this fiscal year.
![SANTA CLARA, CA - JANUARY 28: A hole appears in the wood of a storage room at the International Swim Center on Friday, January 28, 2022 in Santa Clara, California. (Shay Hammond/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SJM-L-ISCREPAIR-02XX-02-1.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
It’s a symptom of the suburban sprawl that began after World War II, when the area began to boom and single-family homes proliferated across large areas. Across the region, with low-density housing spread throughout the city, more roads, sewers, and other infrastructure needed to be maintained.
At the time, many cities relied on property taxes to generate revenue, said Michael Lane, national policy director at urban think tank SPUR. But things changed in 1978 when California voters passed Proposition 13, which effectively limited property tax increases.
“Prior to Prop. 13, the way to generate additional revenue was to annex more land and buildings, and we could get that revenue and new property taxes,” Lane said. “At the time, when there was a cap on property taxes, property taxes actually became a burden rather than a source of revenue from growth. We had to pay attention to whether we could reliably cover the maintenance of all services. ”
The City of Santa Clara has been considering asking voters to fund its infrastructure needs for years, and now it looks like 2024 may be the year it finally happens. Grogan said he plans to recommend to the City Council that a bond measure be placed on the November ballot to address the $624 million in back payments.
But general obligation bonds have become increasingly unpopular with many Californians and may be difficult to pass due to the high threshold for victory of two-thirds of the vote. Even if Santa Clara residents agree to the measure at the ballot box, Grogan acknowledges it’s not a panacea.
“There’s no silver bullet to solve this problem,” he says. “Even capital bonds are the biggest piece of the pie, but they’re not the only piece of the pie.”
Mayor Lisa Gilmore said she is eyeing two developments in the city, Levi’s Stadium and a large adjacent Santa Clara-related project, to create sustainable revenue streams.
The mayor said the stadium, which is managed by the San Francisco 49ers, has not been able to contribute millions of dollars to the city’s general fund as promised, but he hopes that changes. Related projects, which could include about 10 million square feet of retail, restaurants, housing and hotel rooms, have faced obstacles due to the pandemic and the evolving real estate market. But developers are moving ahead with the development, and residents could be moving in by 2025.
“I think those two alone are game-changers for the city of Santa Clara in terms of long-term revenue streams that can be used for all of these deferred capital improvements,” Gilmore said.
Adam Thompson, a longtime Santa Clara resident, said he believes part of what is exacerbating problems in his hometown is the city’s history of paying high salaries to leaders. Ta.
Former City Manager Deanna Santana was one of the highest-paid city managers in the state until she was fired by the City Council in 2022, with total compensation of $765,152 in 2020. Earlier this year, Grogan received a 1.23% raise for his work. He resigned after seven months on the job over concerns that he was not one of the highest paid city employees. His new annual base salary is $418,220.
“I don’t mind paying a higher salary if I see results,” Thompson said. “It would be great if we had a great city with great amenities, a little slush fund for capital improvements, and when something went wrong we could just clean it up and walk away, but that’s not really the case. They’re paying all the money for city services and higher ups, but they’re not really getting any value for it, they’re just burning it.”
![Front view of Santa Clara Fire Station No. 5 on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. The fire station is aging and current structural damage requires it to be completely demolished and rebuilt into a larger, more efficient fire station. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SJM-SCCAPITAL-0329-1.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
![Firefighter Brandon Hale looks at the deteriorated ceiling of Santa Clara Fire Station No. 5 on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. The fire station is aging and due to current structural damage, it will need to be completely demolished and rebuilt. A larger, more efficient fire department. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SJM-SCCAPITAL-0329-6.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
![Walls cracked by the 1989 earthquake can be seen in various rooms at the Santa Clara Fire Station No. 5 on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. The fire station is aging and due to current structural damage will need to be completely demolished and rebuilt. Move to a larger, more efficient fire department. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SJM-SCCAPITAL-0329-11.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
![Wires from a wall speaker hang from a hole at Santa Clara Fire Department No. 5 on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. The fire station is aging and due to current structural damage, it will need to be completely demolished and rebuilt. A larger, more efficient fire department. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SJM-SCCAPITAL-0329-12.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
![Deteriorated walls are visible in various rooms at the Santa Clara Fire Station No. 5 on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. The fire station is aging and due to current structural damage, it will need to be completely demolished and replaced with a larger building. Efficient fire department. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SJM-SCCAPITAL-0329-14.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
![A view of rusted heater pipes and furnaces at Santa Clara Fire Station No. 5 on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. The fire station is aging and due to current structural damage, it will need to be completely demolished and replaced with a larger building. A more efficient fire department. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SJM-SCCAPITAL-0329-15.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
![Deteriorating ceilings are seen at the Santa Clara Fire Station No. 5 on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. The fire station is aging and current structural damage requires it to be completely demolished and rebuilt into a larger, more efficient fire station. . (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SJM-SCCAPITAL-0329-16.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
![Deteriorating floors are seen at the Santa Clara Fire Station No. 5 on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. The fire station is aging and has existing structural damage that will require it to be completely demolished and rebuilt into a larger, more efficient fire station. . (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SJM-SCCAPITAL-0329-17.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
![Cracked walls are seen in various rooms at Santa Clara Fire Station No. 5 on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. The fire station is aging and current structural damage requires it to be completely demolished and rebuilt into a larger building. Efficient fire department. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SJM-SCCAPITAL-0329-3.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)