Memorandum
Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization (L-DC MPO)
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TO: |
David L. Corliss, Lawrence City Manager Craig Weinaug, Douglas County Administrator
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FROM: |
Todd Girdler, L-DC MPO Senior Transportation Planner
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CC:
Date:
RE: |
Scott McCullough, L-DC MPO Secretary L-DC MPO Policy Board Members L-DC MPO Technical Advisory Committee Members
June 29, 2011
Competitive Consolidated Planning Grant (CPG) Applications to KDOT |
Our MPO operation is funded mostly with federal Consolidated Planning Grant (CPG) funds supplied by the USDOT and distributed to the MPO by KDOT. This federal funding for our MPO is augmented by cash and non-cash match amounts from local and state sources. Recently KDOT instituted a new CPG management system that includes an annual competitive application for a portion of CPG funds. That competitive process is now underway, and the MPO would like to submit applications for these additional funds. This funding will be at 80% federal and 20% non-federal match. The instructions for applying for these competitive CPG funds are attached to this memo.
During the last month the MPO staff discussed possible projects to fund with competitive CPG at both MPO Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and the MPO Policy Board (MPO) meetings. The MPO directed the MPO staff to develop funding applications for the three studies noted below and to confer with the Lawrence and Douglas County Commissions to see if they are interested in supporting these applications and in providing a local cash match for any of these projects (see project descriptions and funding proposals below). This application process is on a fast track with applications due to KDOT by July 31st. This funding will be available in 2012. According to the application instructions, projects will receive a higher score if a cash match is provided. These projects are anticipated to be completed by consultants with oversight by MPO staff. The estimated study costs listed below were derived from MPO staff soliciting estimates from consultants that have worked with the MPO recently.
Projects Recommended by the MPO for Application to KDOT for Competitive CPG Funding (80% federal)
Estimated Total Cost $50,000-60,000 with Estimated Local Match $10,000-12,000
Estimated Total Cost $30,000-40,000 with Estimated Local Match $6,000-8,000
Estimated Total Cost $80,000-100,000 Estimated Local Match $16,000-20,000
The total estimated possible local cash match needed to support all three studies, if awarded, is $40,000 and would be funded in whole or part by Lawrence, the County, or even one or more of the other cities in the county since two of the recommended studies affect more than Lawrence and unincorporated Douglas County.
The MPO currently has an estimated $17,000 in local non-cash staff match and an estimated $59,000 in KDOT match funding from the 5-County Regional Transportation Study to program in its 2012 budget. Such sources of non-cash match funding are typically used to support general MPO programming, including staff costs, and could be used to free up budgeted local cash match to commit toward the studies without increasing the 2012 budget past the 2011 budget. In any event, the MPO should be able to balance its 2012 budget with a relatively small percentage of local cash match even with the added competitive CPG funded studies.
To put the level of local cash support in historical perspective it should be noted that in recent years the MPO was funded with 80% federal CPG funds with the other 20% in local (Lawrence) cash match. During the 2005-2007 period the match was all in local cash at about $57,000 annually while for the 2008-2010 period the local cash match dropped to about $28,000. That decline was due in part to the MPO using KDOT match funds from the US 56 Corridor and 5-County Regional Transportation Studies. Another part of that decline was the MPO’s use of local staff match (about $17,000 annually) starting in 2010. In 2011 the MPO was able to use local staff match and an overabundance of KDOT match from the 5-County Regional Transportation Study to lower the MPO’s need for local cash to an unprecedented low of only $2,071. That is highly unusual. The need for a more typical local cash figure of about $20,000-30,000 coupled with about $17,000 of local staff match is expected to return in the 2013 budget.
The critical thing to note is that for 2012 we have a rare opportunity to get a significant amount of extra CPG funding (possibly $100,000) for studies that will complement our Metropolitan Transportation Plan update (i.e., T-2030 to the T-2040 Transportation Plan) and do so with our regular MPO staff program intact and without increasing the budget authority of the MPO budget in 2012. The table below compares the total MPO program costs to the amount of local cash match per year for 2005-2013.
MPO Unified Planning Work Program Budgets–Total CPG Funded Program & Local Cash Match Amounts
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Year |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 without extra CPG |
2012 with $100,000 extra CPG |
2012 with $200,000 extra CPG |
2013 |
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Total Program |
266,500 |
274,380 |
348,550 |
170,003 |
300,683 |
250,245 |
245,755 |
221,944 |
321,944 |
421,944 |
187,500 |
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Local Cash |
46,400 |
54,876 |
69,710 |
34,001 |
25,913 |
25,068 |
2,071 |
0 |
20,000 |
40,000 |
20,000 |
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% Local Cash |
17.4 |
20.0 |
20.0 |
20.0 |
8.6 |
10.0 |
0.84 |
0.00 |
6.2 |
9.8 |
10.7 |
Note: 2010-2013 programs include local staff match which lowers the needed local cash match. 2009-2012 programs include KDOT match which lowers the needed local cash match. 2013 CPG allocation of $150,000 from KDOT is estimated.
The $20,000 level of local cash funding for these new studies does not need to raise the amount of local cash match for the MPO program in 2012 beyond what it has been recently. For next year the MPO will still have plenty of KDOT match to use for the MPO staff costs. At $20,000 estimated for 2012 with the award of extra CPG funds, the local cash amount will still be lower than it was four years ago. The table above shows that the MPO staff has been working with KDOT to decrease the MPO’s need for local cash during the recent hard economic times, understanding that local budgets are tight.
The MPO has directed the MPO staff to pursue applications for all three of the projects noted above. While we do not know which of these projects will receive funding approval from KDOT, it is hoped that we will get at least one of our requested projects. With that in mind, the MPO staff recommends that all three applications be submitted to KDOT with local cash match recognizing that approximately $20,000 will be needed from the various partners (city, county, KU, transit, etc.) to fund the anticipated level of projects ($100,000 worth of projects - half of the high-end cost estimate total for all three projects).
Considering the very short timeframe for developing these applications, it is important for the City and County Commissions to review these projects soon and to advise if there is a local government interest in pursuing these projects and. The MPO staff would like to have this item placed on the Commission agendas in early July so that staff will receive local guidance on how to construct the budgets for these applications and have time to prepare them before the July 31st deadline.
Action Requested
If you have any questions about this matter please contact Todd Girdler at (785) 832-3155 or by email at tgirdler@lawrenceks.org.
Attachment: KDOT Competitive CPG Funding Process – application instructions