Agenda - 01-24-2017 - 6-a - Minutes

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32 1 Our support for light rail has not wavered. However, the MOU does not express an obligation, 2 moral or implied, to fund the Durham-Orange Light Rail project beyond currently authorized 3 levels if further investigation proves financial burden to taxpayers would, in our judgment, 4 compromise Orange County's ability to reasonably fund other, more critical goals and functions 5 of government. 6 7 Commissioner Rich said all partners have never been together in the same room to 8 have some of the discussions to which Commissioner Jacobs referred. She asked if the 9 Manager would talk with Durham County and the MPO. 10 Commissioner Burroughs said she is satisfied that the MOU is non-binding. She said it 11 is imperative to take an opportunity to re-negotiate with Durham County. 12 Commissioner McKee said when the Board approved the sales tax he stood down, and 13 has stayed that way for the last five years; however, this last minute request for additional funds 14 from Orange County has caused him to speak up. 15 Commissioner McKee said he submitted several questions to GoTriangle prior to this 16 meeting: 17 - how much has been spent, to date, on light rail -- $27,681,063 18 - What is the monthly burn rate for light rail -- $400,000 19 He said the amount spent over the past 36 months is $768,918 per month. 20 Finance staff from GoTriangle said $400,000 is the average over the last 12 months. 21 Commissioner McKee said for the three years prior to that, the average was up to 22 $700,000. 23 Finance staff said she would have to review the numbers to have an informed answer. 24 She said the $27 million does not include bus services. 25 Commissioner McKee said the thought that this MOU is not a commitment is false. He 26 said he votes for the MOU, it would be a commitment that he will need to follow through with, 27 thus he will vote against it. 28 Commissioner McKee asked if there is a plan if the State provides no funding. 29 Jeff Mann said clearly this is a risk, but GoTriangle will work hard with value engineering 30 over the coming months in order to seek cost savings for the project, in the event that the State 31 does not provide funding. 32 Commissioner McKee said this project could be value engineered into the ground. 33 Jeff Mann said it is believed that this project will score highly in STI. He said adding the 34 NCCU stop will only increase the score. 35 Commissioner McKee said he asked the County's CFO what were the growth rates for 36 sales tax, and he said 3.6% in the original plan. He said the original document was 3.6%, but 37 GoTriangle used 4.1% in recent presentations. He said this is a material change, and he 38 thought material changes would come back to the partners. 39 Jeff Mann said the New Starts application was based on the Dr. Walden 2014 forecast. 40 Commissioner McKee said these were not the figures given to this Board. 41 Commissioner McKee said they talked about commitment, and April 2017 being a hard 42 stop; but he does not see a vote happening during any of this time. He asked if there is a hard 43 vote to say yea or nay to this project. 44 Jeff Mann said funds would have to be committed in 2018, and the opportunity in 2017 45 is to approve the BRT update. 46 Commissioner McKee said this does not give the Board a hard stop. 47 Jeff Mann said if the Board does not approve the Orange County Bus and Rail 48 Investment plan in April, then it does not go into the plan. 49 Commissioner McKee said the expansion if the cost has been discussed as it has 50 grown. He asked if the costs will ultimately reach $3 billion.