AGENDA #4L

MEMORANDUM

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

FROM:            W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

SUBJECT:       Correction to Budget for 2004 Transportation Planning Grant

DATE:             March 22, 2004

INTRODUCTION

Adoption of the attached budget amendment would correct the budget for the 2003-04 Planning Grant.

BACKGROUND

The Transportation Equity Act for the 21^st Century (TEA-21) requires that each Metropolitan Planning Organization prepare an annual work program known as the Unified Planning Work Program.  This program identifies the Metropolitan Planning Organization planning tasks to be undertaken with the use of federal transportation funds, including highway and transit programs.  The City of Durham is the lead agency for this region and administers these funds to Orange County, the City of Durham, the Town of Carrboro, Triangle J Council of Governments, and the Town of Chapel Hill.

DISCUSSION

Funds for this grant are received in the fall of each year.  During the Town’s budgeting process for the 2003-04 fiscal year, $27,000 was used as an approximation for the amount of grant funds expected to be received.  This amount is consistent with what has been budgeted for this grant in prior years.  The actual amount received in the 2003-04 fiscal year was $53,594.  Thus this amendment is needed to adjust the planning budget up to the amount of funds actually received.

The additional funds will be used to collect traffic volume counts, identify changes in population and development across the service area, prepare and update maps of transit routes, streets, land use, traffic analysis zones, maintain an inventory of significant municipal, State, and federal bicycle and pedestrian transportation facilities, maintain an inventory of bicycle and pedestrian counts, collect information using a GIS database of existing conditions by traffic zone for population, housing units, and employment and collect network data describing the existing street system.

RECOMMENDATION

We recommend that the Council enact the attached budget amendment to correct the 2003-04 Planning Grant.

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND “THE ORDINANCE CONCERNING APPROPRIATIONS AND THE RAISING OF REVENUE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2003” (2004-03-22/O-7)

BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Budget Ordinance entitled “An Ordinance Concerning Appropriations and the Raising of Revenue for the Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2003” as duly adopted on June 9, 2003 and the same is hereby amended as follows:

This the 22^nd day of March, 2004.