Federal funding requested for the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project was zeroed out by the Trump Administration as it hones in on the majority-Democratic state of California.
On May 22, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, both Democrats from California, lambasted the decision by the administration, which cut all $126 million requested for Army Corps of Engineers construction projects in California, as well as $500 million for a dam project in the fellow blue state of Washington.
The Pajaro River levee project is losing $38.5 million requested by federal elected officials who represent Pajaro and Watsonville, the two communities that will benefit from the upgrades.
All the Army Corps funding earmarked for blue states are instead going to Republican-controlled states, according to Padilla and Schiff.
“When anyone takes the oath of office, even Donald Trump as president of the United States, you become the president for all Americans—not just for red states or for blue states, but for every state and every community equally,” Padilla said in a press release. “Communities up and down California—including farmers and farm workers in the Central Valley and Pajaro—will now be at a higher risk of flooding because Donald Trump’s playing politics with federal funding.”
Mark Strudley, executive director of the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, says the $599 million project, to be funded at the state and federal levels, is OK for now. Officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking in October 2024 to mark the beginning of construction activities.
The first phase of construction, known as Reach 6, will add levees along a section of Corralitos Creek in Watsonville. It is still on tap for construction to commence in late summer, according to Strudley, thanks to $156 million already allocated to it.
“Right now we’re good,” he says. “It’s unfortunate that it was cut, but it’s not causing immediate problems for us right now.”
The long-needed project, which at last gained momentum among lawmakers following the 2023 flood of Pajaro, is planned to construct new levees from Holohan Road in Watsonville, through Pajaro and end at Murphy’s Crossing in Aromas. Original estimates penned its completion in about five years.
The $38.5 million lost was slated to go toward construction of the next phase in about two years, Reach 5, which is along Salsipuedes Creek from College Road in Watsonville to where it meets up with the Pajaro River close to the Monterey County line.
Strudley says Reach 5, which is currently in the design phase, has state funding to conduct utility relocations and pursue right-of-way approvals.
“Once that’s all done, then we’re going to be counting on an influx of federal money to get that reach constructed,” he says.
But what may happen next year is anyone’s guess. Strudley says Pajaro’s federal representatives have requested $226 million for the 2026 budget, which would be the remainder of the federal funding for the project. The answer should come later in the summer.
“If we don’t get federal funding for next year, then we’re going to get a little worried about the project past Reach 5,” Strudley says.
He notes that for a presidential administration that talks about efficiency, it’s curious that it would cut funding for a project that actually streamlines the bureaucratic process. For instance, a 2023 state bill exempted the project from the red tape of the California Environmental Quality Act.
“It’s unfortunate and a little ironic that we lost funding for a project that’s actually doing these things,” Strudley says.