Metropolitan Transportation Commission Programming and Allocations Committee
Metropolitan Transportation Commission Programming and Allocations Committee February 12, 2014 Resolution Nos. 4053, Revised, 4084, Revised and 4086, Revised Subject: Federal Grants Status Update and Revisions to the Lifeline Transportation Program Third Cycle Program of Projects. Background: As reported at the Committee’s December 2013 meeting, FTA Jobs Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) funds totaling about $2.0 million lapsed on September 30, 2013 due to delays in U.S. Department of Labor certification of the grants requesting those funds from FTA. The delays were the result of a dispute over potential conflicts between the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PEPRA) and federal transit labor law. MTC submitted a letter to the FTA Administrator requesting that the lapsed funds be reinstated, but this request was denied. The lapsed JARC funds were programmed for the Lifeline Transportation Program Cycle 3 program, which funds projects that improve mobility for the region’s low-income communities, and were included in grants that had been submitted to FTA by MTC, Santa Rosa CityBus and AC Transit. In order to maintain funding for Lifeline, staff has developed a proposed plan to replace all of the lapsed funds. The plan includes the following elements, which are detailed in Attachment A: A total of $1.75 million in population-based STA funds would be allocated to subrecipients in MTC’s grant to offset the loss of FTA funds. Of the total, about $692,000 would be redirected from an allocation for the regional Means-Based Fare Study that was part of the Lifeline Cycle 3 program, and $1.05 million would come off the top of the region’s FY2013-14 Lifeline program category of population-based funds.
[Show full text]