DATE: April 9, 2019
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Steven E. White, Director
Department of Public Works and Planning
SUBJECT: Transportation Funding Claim for FY 2018-19
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute the Transportation Funding Claim for FY 2018-19 in the amount of $7,327,747 to provide transit services in unincorporated areas and for other transportation purposes.
2. Adopt Resolution requesting the Fresno Council of Governments to allocate specified funds from the Local Transportation Fund and State Transit Assistance Fund to the County of Fresno for transit services in unincorporated areas and for other transportation purposes.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended actions will authorize the allocation of State Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds, in the form of Local Transportation Fund (LTF) and State Transit Assistance Fund (STA) for the County’s share of costs to provide transit services in unincorporated areas and for other transportation purposes. TDA statutes also provide for funding of regional transportation planning, bicycle, and pedestrian facilities, and as available, streets and roads. Transit services for residents of the unincorporated areas are provided by Fresno Area Express (FAX) and Handy Ride, Clovis Transit (Roundup), the Fresno County Rural Transit Agency (FCRTA), and the Consolidated Transportation Services Agencies (CTSA’s). CTSA’s provide social services transit. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
There are no viable alternative actions, if your Board does not approve the recommended actions, TDA fund disbursements will be delayed to agencies providing transit service to County residents and for streets and roads funds made available to the County after transit needs are met.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Allocations are made using TDA funds apportioned to the County for predetermined purposes.
Article 3 (Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities) funds in the amount of $121,129 and Article 8a (Streets and Roads) funds in the amount of $3,447,460 will be received from the TDA and deposited into the Department of Public Works and Planning - Road Fund 0010, Org 4510. Funds apportioned for regional transportation planning and the various transit providers are allocated directly to other agencies by the Fresno County Council of Governments (FCOG) and recorded as revenue and expenditure transactions under the Department’s Transit Services Org 4700.
DISCUSSION:
FCOG, as the Regional Transportation Planning Agency for the County, is responsible for apportioning the LTF and STA funds to member agencies and to transit providers as directed by the member agencies.
LTF funds are derived from a fourth cent of the general sales tax collected statewide. The total amount of LTF funds apportioned to the County and its cities is based on the ratio of sales tax collected from each county in the State. Within the County, LTF funds are apportioned among the unincorporated areas of the County and the cities based on their relative populations.
STA funds are derived from the statewide sales tax on diesel fuel. Apportionment of STA funds is based in part on population and in part on the revenue collected by each transit operator. STA funds can only be used for mass transportation purposes.
Table 1 - TDA Claim Calculations is provided to correspond with the following discussion regarding the apportionment of TDA funds.
The total amount of the TDA claim is the sum of the County’s LTF apportionment of $6,069,124; $79,174 from a tax sharing agreement (No. 08-139) with the City of Coalinga approved in 2008; and the County’s STA funds in the amount of $1,179,449. The City of Coalinga has fallen behind in their audits, which resulted in their ineligibility to receive TDA allocations until brought up to date. As a result, the County is only receiving its share of Coalinga’s Measure C allocation pursuant to the agreement with Coalinga and is not receiving its share of the Coalinga TDA allocation. The FY 2018-19 TDA claim will be adjusted accordingly provided that Coalinga’s TDA allocations have been restored. The total TDA claim amount is $7,327,747.
LTF regulations require that a portion of the County’s LTF allocation be apportioned as follows:
• $121,129 for the construction of Article 3 (Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities) projects.
• $309,461 for Article 4.5 (Social Services Transit) provided by the CTSAs.
• $169,156 for regional transportation planning carried out through FCOG.
After the funding amounts described above ($599,746) have been subtracted from the base LTF ($6,069,124), $5,469,378 remains. For purposes of ultimately calculating the amount available to the County for Article 8a (Streets and Roads), this amount is added to funds from the tax sharing agreement with the City of Coalinga ($79,174) and to County’s STA funds ($1,179,449) apportioned to the County. These amounts total $6,728,001.
To determine the amount available to the County for Article 8a, the County’s share of the costs associated with providing non-social services transit to unincorporated areas must be determined. These costs are calculated based on operating costs, farebox revenues, and unincorporated area ridership. FAX and Handy Ride services are provided pursuant to a 1986 agreement between the County and the City of Fresno for public transportation services in the unincorporated portions of the Fresno metropolitan area.
The amounts are as follows:
• The amount for the FCRTA from the County’s apportionment is $797,390.
• The amount for FAX and Handy Ride from the County’s apportionment is $2,583,684.
• The amount for Clovis Transit from the County’s apportionment is $66,386.
Subtracting these amounts ($3,447,460) from $6,728,001 leaves $3,280,541 available for the County’s Article 8a (Streets and Roads) funding.
Table 2 - Comparison of FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19 TDA Apportionments, shows the County’s FY 2018-19 apportionments and compares the apportionment with FY 2017-18. As shown in Table 2, the TDA funding amount decreased for FY 2018-19, leading to decreases in funding for Article 3, and regional transportation planning. FCRTA, Fax, and Handy Ride contributions increased compared to FY 2017-18. The increase in FCRTA funding is primarily due to the increase in the service costs for FCRTA’s routes for unincorporated areas, and less available carryover from the previous operating budget. The increase in the FAX contribution is derived from per-capita share calculations based on LTF and STA apportionments and proportional ridership for Handy Ride users, and includes adjustments based on the actual TDA funds received the prior year. The contribution for Clovis Transit services decreased due to decreased ridership by residents in Tarpey Village.
The overall increased contributions to transit needs outpaced overall funding increases, resulting in a 9.7% ($352,232) decrease in Article 8a funds available in FY 2018-19 for maintenance of the County roadway system.
OTHER REVIEWING AGENCIES:
FCOG staff reviewed the claim and agree with the allocation of funds which is consistent with and fulfills County obligations to adopted budgets of each transit agency. City of Fresno staff reviewed the FAX/Handy Ride calculations and adjustment, and submitted their own claim based on it. The calculations determining the contributions for the FCRTA and the City of Clovis were provided to the Department by those agencies and were reviewed by Department staff.
Following your Board’s approval of the claim, it will be submitted to the FCOG Transportation Technical Committee and Policy Advisory Committee for review. Then the claim will be submitted to the FCOG Board for approval.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #36, April 3, 2018
BAI #36, May 2, 2017
BAI #43, March 25, 2008
BAI #33A, November 18, 1986
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Tables 1 and 2
On file with Clerk - Resolution
On file with Clerk - TDA Claim Form
CAO ANALYST:
Sonia M. De La Rosa