Despite all its cutbacks, the state budget has allocated $5 million for the Pajaro River Levee project. The project has been planned and postponed since 1995, when a levee burst on the river during a storm, flooding the adjacent town of Pajaro. The cause for the delay was a lack of federal money to cover the $300 million price tag. Since then, the Army Corps of Engineers has slashed the price tag in half. The federal government has agreed to pay 75 percent of the costs, and Santa Cruz and Monterey counties are expected to come up with 12.5 percent. The current $5 million dollars in funding will be used to complete the initial design and evaluation stage of the project, which could be completed in two years. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
$5 Million for Pajaro River Levee Project
The Pajaro River in flood stage, 1995
