Fiscal Note

Department:	Contact Person/Phone:	DOF Analyst/Phone:
Transportation	Jon Layzer/684-8084	Susan Cole/684-8894

Legislation Title:

AN ORDINANCE relating to the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (“Sound Transit”); authorizing the amendment of the “Fourth Supplement to MOA for Intergovernmental Cooperation (April 20, 1998) between Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) and The City of Seattle for the Central Link Light Rail Project;” and authorizing the acceptance of funds from Sound Transit.

Summary of the Legislation:

This legislation relates to extension of the Fourth Supplement to the City’s agreement with Sound Transit, providing for the reimbursement of the City’s effort for design review, utility design, permitting, and construction activities relating to the Central Link Light Rail Transit Project. This extension allows the City to continue receiving reimbursement for ongoing work until new long-term agreements are in place – estimated in July or August of 2003.

Appropriations (in $1,000’s):

Fund Name and Number	Department	Budget Control Level*	2003 Appropriation	2004 Anticipated Appropriation
TOTAL

* This is line of business for operating budgets, and program or project for capital improvements

Notes: No new appropriation is requested. All work in the Fourth Supplement is to be carried out with existing appropriations.

Expenditures (in $1,000’s):

Under the Fourth Supplement, most expenses and reimbursement are managed through a single appropriation in Seattle Transportation. For Seattle City Light, however, work under the Fourth Supplement is being carried out under an existing CIP project; starting in January 2003, Seattle Public Utilities has similarly carried out its Fourth Supplement work under existing CIP projects; all other continuing work will be carried out under the existing appropriation in Seattle Transportation. Seattle Transportation and Department of Finance staff will review and amend this approach for long-term funding agreements to be developed later in 2003. Expenditure estimates for January – August 2003 are shown in the chart below.

Expenditures (in $1,000’s):

Fund Name and Number	Department	Budget Control Level*	2003 Expenditures	2004 Anticipated Expenditures
SCLF	Seattle City Light	SCL – CIP Project #8204	$1,785.4
DWF, DWF, WF	Seattle Public Utilities	SPU – CIP Projects #C33NW328, C33NW209, C1NW005	$ 405.5
Transportation Operating Subfund (10310)	Seattle Transportation	Transportation Policy & Planning (18310)	$1,207.6
TOTAL			$3,398.5

* This is line of business for operating budgets, and program or project for capital improvements

Notes:

Estimated expenditures by department to be carried out under the Transportation Operating Subfund are summarized in the chart below.

DEPARTMENT	2003
Department of Parks & Recreation	13,182
Seattle Transportation	809,741
Design, Construction & Land Use	136,000
Fire Department	181,820
Seattle Police Department	45,354
Office of Economic Development	21,536
TOTAL	$ 1,207,633

Anticipated Revenue/Reimbursement (in $1,000’s): All expenses incurred pursuant to the Fourth Supplement will be reimbursed by Sound Transit.

Fund Name and Number	Department	Revenue Source	2003 Revenue	2004 Revenue
SCLF	Seattle City Light	Sound Transit	$1,785.4
DWF, DWF, WF	Seattle Public Utilities	Sound Transit	$ 405.5
Transportation Operating Subfund (10310)	Seattle Transportation	Sound Transit	$1,207.6
TOTAL			$3,398.5

Total Permanent Positions Created Or Abrogated Through Legislation, Including FTE Impact; Estimated FTE Impact for Temporary Positions:

No changes to position authority are proposed.

Do positions sunset in the future? (If yes, identify sunset date):

All positions created in response to Sound Transit funding will continue only while funded by Sound Transit and will be abrogated or explicitly converted to other funding sources as soon as the Sound Transit funding ceases. Staff anticipate that additional positions supported by Sound Transit funding will be created in conjunction with upcoming long-term agreements.

Background (Include brief description which states the purpose and context of legislation and include record of previous legislation and funding history, if applicable):

The City has entered into a series of agreements with Sound Transit beginning with an initial Memorandum of Agreement in April of 1998 (Ordinance 118927). That agreement provided $2.5 million for station area planning and implementation to be fully reimbursed by Sound Transit. The First Supplement to the MOA was executed in October of 1999 (Ordinance 119514). It provided $4.9 million for design review and permitting, also to be fully reimbursed by Sound Transit.

The Second Supplement (Ordinance 120120) was to cover 2001 and 2002 activities and was developed in conjunction with the 2001/2002 City budget. It was approved by the City Council but not by the Sound Transit Board, due to significant changes in the Sound Transit budget and workplan. Thus the Second Supplement was never executed. The City used unexpended funds from the previous two agreements to continue to support a reduced demand for services from Sound Transit. In the absence of execution of the Second Supplement, Ordinance 120277 was passed by the City Council in February of 2001. It reallocated $1.7 million of unspent funds from prior agreements among departments for interim funding until a new agreement could be negotiated.

The Third Supplement was approved by the City Council on May 14, 2001 and was intended to provide a reduced level of funding for City services to Sound Transit while the agency reevaluated its project and budget. That agreement was for $1.6 million and was executed on June 8, 2001 (Ordinance 120363). Due to a lower than expected demand for services, the City was able to extend funding from the Third Supplement through March of 2002. The extended timeline was authorized through another interim spending plan, which was authorized by the City Council in December of 2001 (Ordinance 120698). Additionally, Ordinance 120698 redistributed budget authority that remained from the Third Supplement in accordance with a spending plan that was agreed to by the participating departments. This spending plan continued to support City activities through the first quarter of 2002. Sound Transit authorized continued use of unspent funds still available under the Third Supplement through a letter of approval, which use was specifically allowed in Section IV.C. of the First Supplement.

The Fourth Supplement was approved on April 22, 2002 (Ordinance 120784), providing for the continuation of the City’s partnership with Sound Transit. The Fourth Supplement has been administered using the same method as approved through the First Supplement, which involved the use of a single point of contact for performance reporting and invoicing system. Seattle Transportation has coordinated reimbursements for all departments, providing quarterly invoices and monthly progress reports to Sound Transit, and developing interdepartmental agreements with the participating departments outlining tracking and reporting procedures. Seattle Transportation has managed the general project budget and ensured that participating department costs are within budget and match the scope of the agreement.

On August 12, 2002, the City Council passed Ordinance 120883, creating an additional “contingency” of $332,842 for work effort under the Fourth Supplement. This amount represented a portion of the unspent funds from the First and Third Supplements. Creation of appropriation authority for this “contingency” amount allowed Sound Transit to authorize, in writing, additional work to be done by the City beyond the specified scope of the Fourth Supplement.

City staff are currently working with Sound Transit to clarify the scope, schedule, and budget for City services through the completion of the Central Link Light Rail Initial Segment construction in 2009. A series of funding and reimbursement agreements are currently being negotiated with Sound Transit; some of these agreements will require Council approval, and some are administrative in nature. The current action will support the extension of the Fourth Supplement until these agreements are in place.

The financial cost of not implementing the legislation (Estimate the costs to the City of not implementing the legislation, including estimated costs to maintain or expand an existing facility or the cost avoidance due to replacement of an existing facility, potential conflicts with regulatory requirements, or other potential costs if the legislation is not implemented):

Without this legislation, some or all of the financial cost associated with the legislation could be incurred by City departments without authority to seek reimbursement from Sound Transit.

Possible alternatives to the legislation which could achieve the same or similar objectives (Include any potential alternatives to the proposed legislation, including using an existing facility to fulfill the uses envisioned by the proposed project, adding components to or subtracting components from the total proposed project, contracting with an outside organization to provide the services the proposed project would fill, or other alternatives):

No reasonable alternatives have been identified.

Is the legislation subject to public hearing requirements (If yes, what public hearings have been held to date):

No.

Other Issues (including long-term implications of the legislation):

FOR CAPITAL PROJECTS ONLY – Not applicable