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FY 2021 Recommended Wake Transit Work Plan
Bret Martin, CAMPO Staff
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At its April 22, 2020, regular meeting, the Wake County Transit Planning Advisory Committee (TPAC) recommended a FY 2021 Wake Transit Work Plan to CAMPO and the GoTriangle Board of Trustees for their consideration of adoption in June. In preparation for a June consideration of adoption, CAMPO staff will provide as information an overview of the FY 2021 Recommended Wake Transit Work Plan to the Executive Board at its May 20th regular meeting. The Executive Board will also hold a public hearing on the FY 21 Work Plan at its May meeting. A copy of the TPAC-recommended FY 2021 Wake Transit Work Plan is included as Attachment A. The FY 2021 Recommended Wake Transit Work Plan is scheduled to be released for a 30-day public comment period that is anticipated to run from May 15th through June 14th.
Annual Wake Transit Work Plans contain a number of elements that work to authorize and institutionalize Wake County Transit Plan implementation investment decisions, including:
1) Annual operating and capital budgets and corresponding ordinances;
2) Annual updates to a 10-year multi-year operating program for future operating expenditures;
3) Annual updates to a 10-year capital improvement plan (CIP) for future capital expenditures;
4) Annual updates to the transit plan’s supporting financial plan and model assumptions; and
5) Capital and operating funding agreements that support and are supported by the annual budgets.
In transitioning from the FY 2021 Draft Wake Transit Work Plan released by the TPAC for public comment in January to the most recent TPAC-recommended version, an unfortunate but important reality to note is the FY 2021 Recommended Wake Transit Work Plan’s response to uncertainty regarding public transportation sales tax collections during and recovering from the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. With social distancing and ‘stay-at-home’ measures to control the spread of COVID-19, economic activity in the county has slowed immediately and in dramatic fashion. Out of an abundance of caution, the FY 2021 Recommended Wake Transit Work Plan only reflects immediate investment in a small portion of the new projects or areas of investment reflected in the FY 2021 Draft Wake Transit Work Plan. The remaining projects are assigned to an ‘unbudgeted reserve’ queue that will be revisited in the fall of 2020 when sales tax data for the period most immediately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic will have been acquired to more cautiously inform investment decisions for the remainder of FY 2021 and future years.
At the Executive Board’s May 20th meeting, CAMPO staff will share the contents of and explain the TPAC’s approach to the recommended Work Plan. CAMPO staff will also explain the TPAC’s proposed next steps for consideration of investment in the ‘unbudgeted reserve’ projects in the fall. Following staff’s overview of the FY 21 Work Plan, the Executive Board will conduct a public hearing.
Requested Action: Action Receive the FY 2021 Recommended Wake Transit Work Plan as information and hold a public hearing.