Sacramento County Board Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez speaks to a nearly packed community center in Rio Linda on Oct. 8 for her final community meeting of the year with the community. Rodriguez said her office will still be available for constituents to have their questions answered and concerns heard.

 

RIO LINDA, CA (MPG) - About 75 community members attended the Rio Linda/Elverta community meeting on Oct. 8, discussing public safety, homelessness and multiple ordinances with a Sacramento County Board Supervisor in her final meeting of the year there. 

Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez attended her final Rio Linda/Elverta community meeting of 2025, hosting the meeting with members of Sacramento County’s Department of Economic Development, sheriff’s office and 311 services. Attendees voiced their opinions throughout the meeting as well as during a question-and-answer session at the meeting's conclusion. 

Rodriguez highlighted the county’s structural deficit regarding the annual budget and mentioned weighing the pros and cons of incorporating Rio Linda as its own city. Both issues are complicated, Rodriguez said, but she is committed to figuring out which issues to solve. 

The Rio Linda Elverta Park District Community Center was nearly full of residents to discuss pressing issues in the community with Sacramento County Board Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez on Oct. 8.

“I want to be really honest and very upfront that there will be cuts, there will be cuts to services and there could potentially come some layoffs this next cycle just because the county’s budget is in a bit of a dire strait right now,” Rodriguez said, “and I think it’s something that nobody wants to see but it is happening. There are many challenges.” 

Despite the cuts, Rodriguez said, she and her colleagues will continue to advocate for public safety most importantly. 

“Not cutting in public safety is probably a high priority,” Rodriguez said. “I would imagine it’s a high priority for all of you because having safe communities is really important.”

An issue that drew a growing response at the meeting was road quality and road construction in Rio Linda. Rodriguez said that her office receives constant inquiries about road quality and she is working with her team to see what it would take to initiate a temporary sales tax to fix the roads. Rodriguez said that a temporary tax is essentially the only way to properly fix the roads.

“The county gets so much money from Measure A and then it gets divided by each district, depending on the unincorporated roads that you have in the entire county,” Rodriguez said. “For example, I have District 4, I have 21% of unincorporated road miles.”

An attendee of the Rio Linda Elverta Community Meeting on Oct. 8 expresses his opinion on an issue to Sacramento County Board Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez

Rodriguez said her colleague, Supervisor Rich Desmond of District 3, has 43% of unincorporated road miles and that more of the funding from Measure A would go to District 3 than District 4. A temporary road tax would be discussed further in November and funding the tax would be “100% accountable funds.” She said a special tax only dedicated to roads for unincorporated areas would be strictly audited. 

Multiple objections to the idea were shared with multiple attendees saying that they pay too much in taxes already. 

One attendee said that the county hasn’t done a good job managing the funds they have and that other avenues should be pursued before adding on another tax. He said that road quality was never an issue, but as the taxes rise for not only the roads but gas as well as funding the Department of Transportation, the roads have worsened as the price tag to fix it rises. 

Rodriguez had her staff members noting the concerns raised by community members, so that she could follow up with more information after researching their issues. She said community members can dial 311 with almost any issue they have, so that the information can be combined with the concerns coming to her office. The 311 dispatch team can route customers to the proper departments, whether it’s a city or county matter.

About 75 community members attended the Rio Linda/Elverta community meeting on Oct. 8.

An issue the supervisor said she was looking into was a noise ordinance, as she had received multiple complaints from individuals stating that there were loud parties, drawing large crowds throughout all hours of the night. Rodriguez said that the 10 p.m. noise ordinance, requiring sounds to be under a certain decibel, will be enforced by the sheriff's department, equipped with decibel readers. 

Another attendee stood up during the Q&A and asked the audience to raise their hand if they were in attendance regarding their concerns about a Crowing Fowl Zoning Code Amendment, specifically affecting roosters and their owners. About 70% of attendees raised their hands, signaling to the supervisor that this issue was of great importance to the Rio Linda/Elverta community.

“I gave one of my chickens to a friend of mine and he took one of my chickens to the state fair,” one attendee said. “He won. All I need is something to keep my mental health right.”

Rodriguez’s office can be reached by phone at 916-874-5491 or by email at [email protected]. The supervisor’s website is https://bos.saccounty.gov/District4/pages/default.aspx and the Board of Supervisors for the County of Sacramento office is located at 700 H St., Suite 2450 in Sacramento.