VDOT’s Revenue Sharing program has become a very important part in the development of local transportation improvement programs. County officials need to be aware of changes being considered by the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) that would change the way in which funds under the program are allocated. A chief factor driving these changes is a strong possibility of reductions in funds that will be allocated to the Revenue Sharing program over the next few years.
During its most recent meeting on December 7, CTB heard an important presentation on the subject by Julie Brown, Director of VDOT’s Local Assistance Division. That presentation can viewed at this link: http://www.ctb.RevSharing.pdf.
CTB is considering the following policy options for distributing Revenue Sharing funds:
- Reduce maximum application amount per locality on an annual basis from $10 million to $5 million. (And limit allocations to $10 million per 2 year cycle.)
- Limit allocations per project to $10M
- Require any local matching funds committed by application as part of a prior Revenue Sharing allocation to be spent before additional Revenue Sharing allocations can be approved.
CTB will also be considering policy changes relating to the way Revenue Sharing allocations may be transferred among different transportation projects. Two of the options under consideration include:
- Establishing a requirement that all requests for the transfer of funds from one project to another be approved by the CTB (currently transfers between existing Revenue Sharing projects do not require CTB approval).
- Require that any funds not needed for the previously approved Revenue Sharing projects be reallocated to a statewide account to assure availability of these funds for other important projects to be advertised throughout the year.
On December 13, Julie Brown sent an email to all localities to notify them of the changes to the Revenue Sharing Program that CTB will be considering over the next few months. She is soliciting feedback from local officials on this subject. Comments and questions may be directed to her via the following email address: Julie.Brown@VDOT.Virginia.gov. Please feel free to send copies of your comments to Larry Land, VACo at Lland@vaco.org.
Brown is scheduled to update CTB on any comments she will have received from local officials during the Board’s next workshop, scheduled for 10 a.m. on January 17 at VDOT’s Central Office Auditorium in Richmond. CTB is scheduled to vote on changes to the Revenue Sharing Program during its March 15 meeting.
VACo Contact: Larry Land, CAE