COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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AGENDA TITLE: VDOT Revenue Sharing Program, FY 2009
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Resolution to approve the County’s participation in the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Revenue Sharing Program for FY 2009
STAFF CONTACT(S): Messrs. Tucker, Foley, Graham, Benish, and Wade
LEGAL REVIEW: Yes
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AGENDA DATE: July 2, 2008
ACTION: INFORMATION:
CONSENT AGENDA: ACTION: Yes INFORMATION:
ATTACHMENTS: Yes
REVIEWED BY:
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BACKGROUND:
The VDOT Revenue Sharing Program (“Program”) is a competitive funding program for road improvements which requires a minimum dollar for dollar match from participating localities. The County has participated in this Program since 1988. The Program provides an opportunity for the County to receive an additional $1.0 million for road improvements.
VDOT suspended the Program in March of this year to modify the Program guidelines to reflect changes made to the Program in the 2008 General Assembly session. Specifically, the Revenue Sharing funding priorities (Tiers) were modified to make projects that are administered by the locality the highest priority for funding (Tier One) and projects in which the locality has provided a match in excess of a dollar for dollar match the second highest priority for funding (Tier Two). However, this change will not be implemented until the FY 09-10 application period. For the upcoming FY 08-09 application, Tier Two projects are still considered the highest priority for funding.
Last year, the County provided a $1.5 million match and received the full award of $1.0 million, which was applied to the Meadow Creek Parkway project.
STRATEGIC PLAN:
Goal 3: Develop Policies and Infrastructure Improvements to Address the County’s Growing Needs.
DISCUSSION:
The County must provide more than a dollar for dollar match in order to qualify for consideration at the highest priority level for funding (Tier Two) and, because the Program is expected to be very competitive this year, it must provide a significant match in order to increase its chances of being awarded funding within that tier. Staff recommends providing a $1.5 million local match.
VDOT residency staff recommends again applying FY 08-09 Program funds toward the Meadow Creek Parkway project to ensure that sufficient funds are available for the project to stay on schedule for construction. The additional $2.5 million in Revenue Sharing funds and the County match will cover recent cost increases incurred for the project. As noted earlier, the County allocated its FY07-08 Program funds to the Meadow Creek Parkway. At that time, staff and VDOT believed there were sufficient funds to cover the project costs; however those costs have increased by approximately $5 million. The total cost for the project is now estimated to be $30,472,746. These cost increases are largely due to an increase in fuel and material costs. The increased cost can also be attributed to VDOT’s new policy on maintenance of traffic during construction which increases the number of temporary traffic control devices and materials used in the temporary roadway.
The current estimated advertisement date to bid the Meadow Creek Parkway project for construction is October 2008.
BUDGET IMPACT:
$1.0 million of the County’s match has been allocated for Revenue Sharing in the Capital Improvement Program. The remaining $500,000 is available from funds allocated to the Transportation Improvement Program in the CIP. As noted previously the $1.5 million is intended to leverage an additional $1.0 million in VDOT Revenue Sharing funds to be used toward Meadow Creek Parkway.
Staff recommends that the Board adopt the attached resolution (Attachment B) to participate in VDOT’s Revenue Sharing Program for FY08-09 and allocate $1,500,000 in funds from the CIP (as described in the Budget Impact section above) for use in matching VDOT Revenue Sharing funding for the Meadow Creek Parkway project.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A – Letter from VDOT outline the Revenue Sharing Program guidelines