To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Jacques R. LaRochelle, Public Works Director
Prepared By: John Ferons, Senior Civil Engineer
TITLE:
Title
Napa Countywide Road Maintenance Act (Measure T) - Maintenance of Effort, 5-Year Work Plan, and Master Funding Agreement
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
(1) Adopt a resolution approving Maintenance of Effort amount under Measure T Program.
(2) Adopt a resolution approving five-year list of projects under Measure T Program; and determining that the actions authorized by this resolution are exempt from CEQA.
(3) Authorize the City Manager to execute the Master Funding Agreement between Napa Valley Transportation Authority-Tax Agency and the City of Napa.
Body
DISCUSSION:
At the General Election held on November 6, 2012, the voters of Napa County approved a ½-cent sales tax increase known as Measure T, the Napa Countywide Road Maintenance Act of 2012. The Measure T County-wide sales tax will be implemented July 1, 2018, immediately following the sunset of the County-wide flood improvement ½-cent sales tax increase known as Measure A. The sales tax will be implemented by the Napa Valley Transportation Authority - Taxing Authority (“NVTA-TA”), and the tax proceeds will be allocated among all local agencies within the County.
Measure T funding is to be used for maintenance, reconstruction, and/or rehabilitation of streets, roads, and transportation infrastructure within the public right-of-way including but not limited to: sidewalks, curb and gutters, curb ramps, lighting, traffic signage, striping, and local roadway drainage.
Measure T is intended to compliment, not supplant or replace, the City’s current level of effort regarding transportation infrastructure maintenance. Per the measure: (1) the City is required to calculate its average Maintenance of Effort (MOE) over a set 3-year period, consisting of FY 07/08, FY 08/09 & FY 09/10 and maintain that level effort as a minimum going forward; and, (2) the City is required to develop and adopt a 5-year work plan funded with revenues generated by Measure T; and, (3) the City and Napa Valley Transportation Authority may execute a Master Funding Agreement to document the conditions necessary for the City to receive Measure T sales tax disbursements.
Maintenance of Effort
The City of Napa computed its Maintenance of Effort (MOE) amount by calculating average expenditures of the General Fund organizational keys related to street and sidewalk maintenance (listed below). The expenditure total for each organizational key included all expenditure categories (salaries, benefits, services, materials, etc.). This methodology allows us to easily track our expenditures going forward to ensure that we continue to meet our MOE requirements. The organizational keys used for the calculation are: Street Operations (including Stormwater), Street Drainage, Street Maintenance, Street Signing and Striping, Sidewalk Replacement, Electrical Admin/Overhead, Street Lighting and Traffic Control Signal System. See Exhibit A of the attached Resolution for the MOE Calculation.
Maintenance of Effort Descriptors included in Maintenance of Effort Calculation Worksheet:
43111 Street Operations/Admin
This is a general account for the overall management and daily operations of the streets maintenance division. This key encompasses the general overhead and administration of the streets division. Division Manager and support staff are fully or partially paid through this key.
43112 Street Cleaning
This account is for various street sweeping and street cleaning elements. Currently the City is in a contract with a private street sweeping company to sweep City streets. This GL key allocates funds to pay for the management and execution of street sweeping (either contract and/or city performed). This key also allocates funds for basic street cleanliness.
43113 Street Drainage
This account involves typical maintenance of existing street drainage facilities. This maintenance includes, but is not limited to, cleaning drain inlets, replacing/repairing damaged structures, various point repairs and routine maintenance on storm drain pipes. Furthermore, this key involves preventative maintenance on drainage structures as well as responding to localized flooding resulting from deferred maintenance issues.
43114 Street Maintenance
This account is a general, “catch-all” key used by the streets maintenance division. This key includes typical repairs occurring within the road right of way; including but not limited to pothole repair, minor pavement potholing, overlays, and other maintenance activities needed to ensure function of the roadway as well as other activities needed to support the roadway outside the travelled way but within the public right of way, including approaches to railroad crossings.
43115 Stormwater Operations
This is a relatively new account (created in 2015) introduced to achieve compliance with the NPDES Stormwater Permit. This key funds routine inlet cleaning and maintenance, storm drain cleaning and maintenance, trash assessments and various administrative tasks associated with permit compliance and contract management.
43116 Signage/Striping
Staff assigned to the City’s sign shop and the various operational duties performed by the sign shop are covered under this key. Said duties include street sign installation and maintenance, pavement markings, curb paint, white, yellow and blue pavement buttons, bike lane striping and pavement markings.
43124 Sidewalk Replacement
This key includes the maintenance of existing sidewalks, including removal, replacement or other methods needed to ensure adequate sidewalks. This is a pre-cursor to the existing sidewalk improvement program (Key 30301) that is currently operated by the streets division and funded partially by the General Fund (Key 41940) since 2014.
43171 Electrical Admin
This account is for the overall management and daily operations of the electrical maintenance division. This key encompasses the general overhead, administration and work activities of the electrical division.
43173 Street Lighting
This account supports all operational and engineering duties related specifically to street lighting. New installation and Maintenance work to City lighting facilities, such as street lights, and street light boxes is included in this key.
43174 Traffic Signals
Any electrical support to City traffic signals is encompassed within this key. This includes basic electrical support, installation of new signal heads and poles, synchronizing signal timing, and any other related electrical maintenance activities.
5-Year Work Plan
The 5-year work plan is designed to focus the Measure T effort on the City’s arterial and collector streets and their appurtenant transportation infrastructure. This is separate and distinct from the City’s 10-mile a year paving program which will remain in effect and remain focused on local and neighborhood streets. Additionally, the Measure T program will include traffic signal replacement and traffic signal interconnection. It will also consider the needs of non-motorized travelers, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and persons with disabilities, in all planning, maintenance, construction, operations and project development activities and products. The adopted 5-year work plan will be submitted to the Measure T Independent Taxpayer’s Oversight Committee for review and recommendation for adoption by the NVTA-TA Board. The City’s 5-year work plan is required to be updated every two-years and follow the same adoption process to ensure proper application of the Measure T funds.
Based on the last published report for Measure A (also a 1/2 cent tax) from 2014/15, sales tax generated a total of about $17.4 million countywide. The City’s Measure T portion of the countywide sales tax is 40.35%. Escalating the countywide tax by 3% annually, a reasonable/conservative estimate, renders an estimate for the City of Napa’s share of approximately $7.6 million for 2017/18. Using a 4% escalator yields a $7.8 million estimate. Therefore, the 5-year workplan will use a max of $8 million for the initial two-year cycle.
The 5-year work plan is designed to focus on arterial and collector streets with greater needs driven by higher traffic volumes, heavily used corridors and streets for which staff receives large volumes of complaints. For example, year 1 includes the high-traffic volume stretch of Trancas Street from Jefferson Street west to State Route 29. This reach is in need of surface repair, traffic signal replacement, ADA Ramp concrete work and surface drainage repairs. Another example is Trower Avenue west of Jefferson Street which was previously in need of surface repair coupled with the City having just completed the Trower Storm Drain CIP which installed a large diameter storm drain the length of the reach. The plan also stages the work along some of the corridors that need both heavy concrete maintenance and surface treatment with the concrete work happening in one construction season and the paving work following during the next construction season ending with a complete street repair.
Public Work’s goal is to prepare plans, specifications and estimates and publicly bid the first phase of the year one projects listed in the attached work plan and to request award of those projects at a July 2018 City Council meeting when the Measure T funding becomes available. The recently, successfully recruited Measure T team from within Public Works Engineering will be leading this effort funded by current Gas Tax revenue. In July 2018 that funding will shift to Measure T revenues.
Master Funding Agreement
In order to receive funding, NVTA-TA has requested the City to enter into a Master Funding Agreement. The purpose of the agreement is to document the conditions necessary for the City to receive the Measure T sales tax disbursements. Key elements of the agreement are addressed within this Staff Report and include:
Bike Facility Funding
In order to receive funding, the Local Agencies of Napa County must demonstrate to NVTA-TA that they have collectively committed eligible revenues totaling at least 6.67% of the value of the total annual allocations of Measure T funds (in other funding, not Measure T) to Class 1 Bike Facility projects identified in the adopted Countywide Bicycle Plan, as that Plan may be amended from time to time and as provided in the Measure.
Maintenance of Effort
No later than March 1, 2018, the City shall determine and certify to NVTA-TA the average maintenance of effort consistent with the method described above. At the beginning of each fiscal year, the City must certify to NVTA-TA that it will meet its Maintenance of Effort expenditures that fiscal year.
Five Year List of Projects
No later than March 1, 2018, and at least biennially thereafter on January 1st, the City shall provide NVTA-TA its Measure T five-year list of projects as described above.
A copy of the Master Funding Agreement is included as Attachment 3 to this staff report. That agreement includes: Exhibit A, a copy of the Measure T Ordinance; Exhibit B, the Five-Year Project List Template which will be populated after adoption of the 5-Year Work Plan by resolution; Exhibit C, the Accounting, Reporting and Auditing Guidelines; Exhibit D, the Five-Year Work Plan Resolution template; Exhibit E, a Progress Report Template to be completed in the future; and Exhibit F, the Maintenance of Effort Resolution template.
The adoption by resolution of the first two actions proposed herein: (1) Maintenance of Effort; (2) 5-Year Work Plan, no later than March 1, 2018; and, authorization of the City Manager to execute the Master Funding Agreement fulfills the City’s obligations of the Measure T requirements to receive funding as the Measure T horizon date approaches in July 2018.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
There is no financial impact associated with these actions as projects that will be funded by Measure T are eligible for 100% reimbursement of incurred project costs.
It should be noted however, once this measure becomes operative, in order to receive annual allocations, all jurisdictions in the County must collectively demonstrate as a whole that at least six and sixty-seven one-hundredths percent (6.67%) of the value of the Measure T allocations received each year are committed to Class I Bike lane project(s) identified in the adopted Countywide Bicycle Plan through funding not derived from this Ordinance.
CEQA:
The Public Works Director has determined that the Recommended Actions described in this Agenda Report are not in-and-of-themselves a “project” (pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378) since they do not result in a physical change in the environment.
Furthermore, the Projects described herein are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 as the repair, maintenance or minor alteration of existing facilities involving no or negligible expansion of use beyond that which presently exists.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
ATCH 1 - Resolution MOE
EX A - Maintenance of Effort
ATCH 2 - Resolution Measure T Projects
EX A - 5-Year Work Plan
ATCH 3 w-EX A-F - Master Funding Agreement
NOTIFICATION:
None.