Minutes 02-27-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

the possibility of an east/west route from Mebane to Durham down 1-85. He asked if this has been put away or if it is still on the table. Eric Langfried said he does not know the final recommendation on this. Commissioner McKee said he would like to see this taken off the table. He said he realizes that the half cent sales tax cannot address all of the needs, but without the light rail component, it would address the majority of them. Eric Hallman asked what happened to the funding for the circulator route. He said the plan voted on by the Town had the circulator route covered as new coverage, given the date it went into operation. He said this plan has since been manipulated so the circulator plan now can't be funded by the half cent sales tax. He said this is not the plan that was approved. Craig Benedict said, at first the plan described new service as something after July 2009. He said the Hillsborough circulator started out after that; so it was considered new. He said late in the implementation agreement process, the date for new service became the referendum date of November 2012. He said the circulator was running at that point, so it was considered an existing service, which could not be funded with the sales tax. He said staff stated its case on this issue. Craig Benedict said there is a way to fund the circulator using only tag tax revenue, which equals $788,000 in a the first full year; however the share for the circulator and OPT will be based on how much money is spent by the local government entities, you get a 92 percent - 8 percent split on the tag revenue. He said that 8 percent split is probably $40,000 or $50,000 per year. He said this does not completely pay for the Hillsborough circulator; but some money has been accrued, and it is sustainable for the first 4 or 5 years. He said the managers and TTA are working on determining whether the split is sustainable. He said the math shows that the 8 percent will get smaller as time goes on, because the Chapel Hill system will spend more than OPT spends. He said this will need to be resolved in the coming years. Eric Langfried said both TTA and the MPO were fine in understanding that some of the new monies would be spent to continue the Hillsborough circulator, but it is really just about finding the legal mechanism to do that. He said the notion that the circulator should continue to be funded is not in doubt. Eric Hallman said it is something his board should advocate for Commissioner Price said her understanding was that there would be a bus going in the opposite direction, because one of the major complaints about this route was the inconvenience of having only one bus going in one direction. She said there needs to be another bus so that more people would use it. She would be in favor of another circulator bus. Craig Benedict said staff will take roughly $400,000 and put price tags on a reverse route and on mid-day service on Highway 70. He said this will show how this money gets allocated. He said staff is also trying to put some senior citizen money in to bring people to the senior center. He said the current draft lists 5 things that staff believes can be funded in the first 5 years. He said he doesn't see funding for an extra $100,000 route for the circulator unless another $100,000 in associated hours is cut out. He said staff will try to list out the costs of these routes. Commissioner Price said she believes there should be a re-allocation of money. She does not see why the northern and central parts of the County should be short-changed. She said there are people up there that need service. Kathleen Ferguson said the County is not Chapel Hill/Carrboro; the County is the County. Commissioner Pelissier said she believes the Board wants to honor the original plan regarding the circulator route. She said, regarding the addition of a reverse direction of the