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Public Hearing - FFY23, 24 & 25 5307 Urbanized Area Formula Funding Application
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INFORMATION CONTACT:
Theresa Torres, Human Services Agency, Transportation Director, 704-283-3598
ACTION REQUESTED:
Conduct a public hearing to accept public comments regarding the application for funding through the 5307 Urbanized Area Formula Funding Grant.
PRIOR BOARD ACTIONS:
None.
BACKGROUND:
The 5307 Urbanized Area Formula Funding program makes federal resources available to urbanized areas for transit capital and operating assistance in urbanized areas and for transportation-related planning. Eligible 5307 activities include planning, engineering, design, and evaluation of transit projects and other technical transportation-related studies; capital investments in bus and bus-related activities such as replacement, overhaul, and rebuilding of buses, crime prevention and security equipment and construction of maintenance and passenger facilities; and capital investments in new and existing fixed guideway systems including rolling stock, overhaul and rebuilding of vehicles, track, signals, communications, and computer hardware and software. All preventive maintenance and some Americans with Disabilities Act complementary paratransit service costs are considered capital costs. Operating assistance is only an eligible expense for urbanized areas with populations less than 200,000.
5307 funds allocated to the Charlotte urbanized area are distributed using a formula that considers population, bus fleet, and transit service provided in its urbanized area outside of Charlotte, which includes the remainder of Mecklenburg County, Iredell County, York County, and Union County.
Based on the current distribution formula created by the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) and approved by the Charlotte Regional Transit Planning Organization (CRTPO), Union County will receive up to:
• $2,041,740 in Federal 5307 funds from FFY23.
• $2,353,090 in Federal 5307 funds from FFY24.
• $2,402,267 in Federal 5307 funds from FFY25.
This funding will be used for both operating expenses, which require a 50% local match, and capital expenses, which require a 20% local match.
The 5307 Grant will result in an award of Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2023, (FFY) 2024, and (FFY) 2025 Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) funds to Union County. Funds awarded during a given fiscal year are initially allocated for a one-year period of performance, but this may be extended if necessary to enable them to be drawn down over a five-year period after the start of the federal fiscal year of the award. Thus, funds awarded for the:
• FFY23 5307 applications can be drawn down through June 30, 2028.
• FFY24 5307 applications can be drawn down through June 30, 2029.
• FFY25 5307 applications can be drawn down through June 30, 2030.
In Union County, 5307 operational-related services are currently provided using demand response, subscription, and contracted fixed-route service. These services are rendered by Union County Transportation, or its subcontractors, and CATS. Union County’s Transportation and Planning staff have developed a list of activities for these funds, which include paying 50 percent of the cost of the existing Union County 74X Express bus service and provision of demand-response service in the urbanized portions of the County. The funding allocated for capital-related items will be utilized for the purchase of security-related items as required by the 1% security minimum requirement, safety-related items as required by the 0.75% safety minimum, and for facility renovations
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
None.