Minutes 05-15-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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John Roberts made reference to section 3 and said that his previous email was related to this. Durham County's Attorney, at the suggestion of its Manager, changed these percentages to 76.05% and 23.95%, which is different. Wib Gulley said that Durham County felt that the final proposal was to move $150,000 a year for the full life of the agreement, and changing the percentage would make this amount more, and Durham did not agree to this. John Roberts said that the percentages were negotiated by Commissioner Jacobs, Chair Pelissier, Commissioner Yuhasz, and Durham County officials and staff. Chair Pelissier said that the Board would finish hearing about the agreements, listen to the public comment, and then consider the items one by one. John Roberts said that the implementation agreement is an optional agreement and is new. He said that he recommended for the County Commissioners to approve the cost sharing plan subsequent to approving this agreement. He went through this agreement, which is incorporated by reference. The funding sources include the '/�-cent sales tax, a new $7.00 vehicle registration fee, and a $3.00 increase in the existing vehicle registration fee. PUBLIC COMMENT: Will Raymond said that this plan is still not firm enough to really move forward. He said that they need to understand what is being provided for those dollars. There needs to be a firm understanding of what the money will be used for. He is concerned that the public input is not being considered in this plan. He said that the public continues to ask for an evaluation of the 15/501 versus 54 alignments in terms of environmental and economic impacts. There has been no deliberation by the Board on this issue. He suggested shifting the focus to buses and making a commitment to save for the light rail in the future. He would like to have an explanation of where the missing community input is. He said that the community turned out for the meetings and gave lots of great comments, but he does not see them. Bonnie Hauser echoed Will Raymond's comments. She said that she is disappointed for the citizens because so few people understand this plan. She said that transit only works if it is convenient, and this plan is not convenient. Transit Plan Commissioner Jacobs made reference to Will Raymond's comments and said that the County Commissioners did solicit comments from the public at the open houses and he asked about the comments. It was answered that the County Commissioners were shown the comments at a work session. Commissioner McKee asked for clarification on the debt. In the packet dated May gtn on page 22 it shows a debt of$19 million; and then on page 20 it says $28 million. He asked for an explanation of the difference. Patrick McDonough said that they needed to address the difference between Durham County and Orange County and the operational costs and the minor disagreement. This has to be addressed with cash balances. He said that $25 million borrowed in the early 2020's will equal $19 million when the payments are taken into account until 2035. The County is borrowing $25 million, but will make $19 million in debt payments between then and 2035. Commissioner McKee made reference to the May 11 th handout, which says that a total of$28 million will be borrowed. Patrick McDonough said that this is a typo. It should say $25 million. This is also on page 21. Chair Pelissier asked for clarification on the typographical errors so that it is on the record.