Agenda - 04-18-2017 - 8-a - Minutes

Browse Search

31 1 sharing for Orange County. She said she sees great value in having LRT, but the split will need 2 to be significantly different for her to vote favorably. 3 Commissioner Marcoplos referred to buses, and whether there will be any revenue left 4 to expand the buses for new routes. He asked if the remaining funds are for new bus routes. 5 He also asked if the current buses can be deployed elsewhere, once the LRT is in place, and if 6 that is in addition to the projected bus expansion that is in the BRIP. 7 Mindy Taylor said whether the additional dollars will go to new routes, or to additional 8 hours on existing routes, is a question for the individual transit providers. She said this 9 information is laid out in the draft Orange transit plan. 10 Commissioner Marcoplos asked if that plan utilizes these buses that will be re-located 11 and re-routed, or are those buses gravy on top of the existing buses. 12 Danny Rogers said this is referred to as dividend hours, some of which is GoTriangle, 13 but majority of which is Chapel Hill Public Transit. He said there are agreements with Carrboro, 14 Chapel Hill and UNC, and most of that is provided by UNC. He said the way in which these 15 dividend hours are divided would be up to those entities. He said this is fully expected to 16 happen, and would allow for a fairly significant amount of buses to provide connections to the 17 LRT, and other parts of the area. 18 Commissioner Marcoplos said he does not think the Board has seen that on the same 19 page as the other bus expansion. 20 Danny Rogers said John Tallmadge, GoTriangle Regional Services Department 21 Director, will include this information in his presentation on the draft plan 22 Commissioner Jacobs said the dividend hours go to Chapel Hill Transit, and one of the 23 issues is that the LRT is in Chapel Hill; the dividend hours are in Chapel Hill; everything is in 24 Chapel Hill, despite the plan being promised to the whole County. He said it is important to 25 consider whether the Board is fulfilling the commitment made to the residents that there will be 26 a robust bus system in Orange County when the Board asked them to vote for the transit tax. 27 Commissioner Jacobs referred to the state of good repair, and that this was going to be 28 contributed to down the years. He said he thought this contribution was going to come out of 29 the cash balances, and asked if this is correct, as the cash balances are so small. 30 Ted Cole said part of the reason the cash balances fall to where they are is because 31 some state of good repair improvements will be funded out of the cash balances. He said a 32 borrowing would be inserted, when the cash balances are no longer sufficient to fund the state 33 of good repair improvements. 34 Commissioner Jacobs said this is the same predicament that exists with schools. He 35 said there is not enough funding to repair the old, pay operations, and build new schools. 36 Ted Cole said they try to do what they can on a pay as you go basis, and when that 37 does not work money is borrowed. 38 Commissioner Jacobs referred to the BRT, and asked where is the $100 million coming. 39 Mindy Taylor said GoTriangle is not the project sponsor on the BRT, and said to contact 40 the Town of Chapel Hill about this. She said funding options are being considered outside of 41 the tax district share, and currently no state funds are being considered, and the federal share 42 could be higher. 43 Brian Litchfield, Transit Director for Town of Chapel Hill, said the current estimate is 44 $125 million year of expenditure, which assumes a 70% from a federal grant, and a 30% local 45 match. He said the current draft plan includes $6.1 million of that 30%. He said as the next 46 phase of the project continues, the Town will have to look at the costs for the project and 47 whether there are ways to minimize them. 48 Commissioner Jacobs said there is a difference of about $28 million, and asked if this is 49 included in the BRIP at this point, or is the County expected to contribute.