Agenda - 04-18-2006-7b - Laserfiche WebLink

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~5 Potential Incentive Funding for the Regional System One of the potential benefits of regionalism would be the ability to access additional State and Federal funds. This potential has become a reality based on several actions that have occurred since the reauthorization of the Federal Surface Transportation Act, SAFETEA- LU, which extends through 2009 and includes annual increases.. First, North Carolina has been selected to participate as one of seven states in a pilot program specified in the legislation that would test the impact of using Federal Section 5310 funds, which are targeted for' services to the elderly and people with disabilities, for' operating purposes. The North Carolina application for this pilot indicated that these funds would be available as incentives only to regional systems, which may use state EDTAP funds as the non-federal 50% match. The amount of the State's Section 5310 apportionment that can be utilized in this manner totals $1,045,404, and NCDOT must work through an allocation plan for the affected regional systems. Second, SAFETEA-LU included a significant increase in Federal Transit Administration Section 5.311 rural transportation funds apportioned to the state of approximately 50 percent, which total $18,290,385, These additional funds also could be used as an incentive for regional systems. The non-federal 50% match for the 5311 funds could come from North Carolina's Rural General Public funds.. At the moment, NCDOT indicates there is a significant amount of'these funds available which could be used to expand Rural General Public services or create partnerships with fixed route operators to extend those services to growing portions of rural counties. To illustrate the potential partnering opportunities, the funds that will be allocated to the region based on the 2006-2007 ROAP process have been shown to match potentially available Section 5310 and 5311 funds, which results in an annual amount of $1,115,708. The total, especially for 5311 funds, could be increased through the match of local funds. The build-up showing the federal and non-federal funds is presented in Table 2, It should be reinforced that the ability to access these funds is limited to regional systems, which would include either Alternatives 2 or 3 from this report. Additionally, regional systems will receive priority consideration for ITS and capital expenditures under new incentive programs at the state level. These funds could then be used to create a uniform scheduling and dispatch technology and a long term capital program. Triangle Regional Ti~~nrtsportatiorr Development Plarr - E.cecutive Summary 13