SANTA CRUZ >> Santa Cruz County’s winter rainstorm damages grew to $25 million Tuesday as rain fell steadily and the San Lorenzo River overflowed its banks outside the Santa Cruz County Governmental Center.

“We’re going to repair all these roads. It’s going to take some time,” said John Presleigh, county public works director. “Be patient with us.”

Supervisor Bruce McPherson, who represents the hard-hit Fifth District, pointed out the county’s needs represent about 10 percent of the $200 million to $300 million of the statewide damages.

“I had to turn around on Graham Hill Road,” McPherson said, referring to a slide at the county line posted at sccroadclosure.org Tuesday.

Supervisor Zach Friend, who has heard from constituents detoured since the Jan. 23 closure of Valencia Road, “$25 million is damage we haven’t seen since the earthquake.”

Gov. Jerry Brown made two disaster declarations for storm damages in December and January but the way he sought federal aid may result in a funding shortfall for road repairs, according to Presleigh.

The governor requested assistance through the Federal Highway Administrations’s emergency relief program, which potentially could provide up to 75 percent of funding to fix major arterials and collector streets such as Bear Creek Road in Boulder Creek, Valencia Road in Aptos and Soquel-San Jose Road.

The governor did not make California Disaster Assistance Act funds available for local roads damaged in December, according to Presleigh, who said the county is asking Assemblyman Mark Stone-D-Scotts Valley for help.

If that appeal is unsuccessful, Presleigh said, then the county would have to repair local roads with county money.

Friend said he wanted to consider every option, including using Measure D sales tax revenue voters approved in November.

Three weeks ago, McPherson proposed tapping reserves to repair Bear Creek Road and Soquel-San Jose Road because they serve as emergency routes and are used by many commuters. Each is down to one lane due to washouts. Because of geotechnical work, design requirements, bidding and construction timelines, restoring both roads could take until the end of summer or longer.

However, given a list of more than 50 roads damaged, supervisors made no attempt to set priorities.

Supervisor John Leopold, who chairs the board, requested regular updates on the progress of repairs to share with the community.

Presleigh said the county public works website and Facebook page will be revamped “in a week or two” to provide updates on the roads worked on.

He said he reassigned sanitation engineers to work on road repair design but warned the process of getting federal funds is lengthy due to environmental, design and geotechnical issues.

“We’re going to be in line with a lot of other counties,” he said.

In other action, supervisors unanimously:

• Approved a four-year contract through June 30, 2020 with the Deputy Sheriffs Association with a pay increase of 6.5 percent for those at the top eight steps in the law enforcement unit costing the county $1.6 million and for all those in the supervisory unit, costing $340,000.

• Approved a $127,675 contract through Dec. 31 with Moore Iacofano Goltsman Inc. of Berkeley, which developed the “Your Ticket Home” public transit campaign targeting S.F. Giants fans, for a campaign to recruit Santa Cruz County families to care for foster children.

• Approved a $158,870 contract for Moore Iacofano Goltsman to prepare the Pleasure Point commercial area vision and Portola streetscape plan and countywide commercial design guidelines. The firm plans a five-month process with three community meetings and up to four stakeholder input sessions; the team includes Daniel Iacofano and Mukul Malhotra, who worked on Pleasure Point’s residential guidelines and the Aptos Village Project.

County residents with storm damage can get a property assessment by filling out a form at sccoplanning.com or by calling 831-454-3171.