By now Santa Clara County’s Measure B Education & Encouragement (E&E) funding should not be a surprise to anyone that’s reading this blog. These funds are meant to cover activities and the development and distribution of materials that are designed and intended to satisfy the following goals. Educate, and/or encourage safe walking or bicycling for residents or visitors of every age and ability; communicate to residents and visitors the benefits of walking and bicycling; and communicate to school children, residents, and visitors the rights and responsibilities of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists. When I was appointed to the Gilroy Bicycle Pedestrian Commission (#GilroyBPAC) in 2017, the measure had just passed. It quickly was challenged in the courts and the sales tax collected was held in escrow.
The challenge was not successful and VTA’s Board of Directors earlier this year approved the budget for fiscal years 18/19/20/21. Each city by now knows the exact amount of funding they can receive each year. Both the funding agreements and template needed by the cities have been distributed to staff. The template is then submitted for approval to the VTA and contains the Project Activities Description, Project Goals, and Proposed Evaluation Metrics. Once approved you are ready to start your programs. The funding to each City is based on population and the projection of sales tax. The VTA Board sets it during their budget process. It’s a use it or lose it funding program. Sales tax can fluctuate as well. What’s clear is the amount of funding approved for fiscal years 18/19/20/21. I am going to share the experience that I have had in Gilroy and how we have chosen to implement the program.
The challenge was not successful and VTA’s Board of Directors earlier this year approved the budget for fiscal years 18/19/20/21. Each city by now knows the exact amount of funding they can receive each year. Both the funding agreements and template needed by the cities have been distributed to staff. The template is then submitted for approval to the VTA and contains the Project Activities Description, Project Goals, and Proposed Evaluation Metrics. Once approved you are ready to start your programs. The funding to each City is based on population and the projection of sales tax. The VTA Board sets it during their budget process. It’s a use it or lose it funding program. Sales tax can fluctuate as well. What’s clear is the amount of funding approved for fiscal years 18/19/20/21. I am going to share the experience that I have had in Gilroy and how we have chosen to implement the program.
During our 2017 Gilroy BPAC Strategic Planning session we decided to focus on Safe Routes To School. County Public Health was already in Gilroy working off a grant for our schools. Measure B E&E quickly became a hot topic and the approximate funding of $32,000 annually was reported by Staff to us. A dedicated funding source to continue the momentum created by our existing Safe Routes To School (SRTS) program was exciting and gets us on the path of sustainability. We then reported to City Council at our annual presentation about the opportunity. We continued to watch over the court challenge and waiting for the opportunity to hit the ground running when the time is right.
At our June 2019 Gilroy BPAC meeting we had a presentation from Lauren Ledbetter, VTA. Fiscal years 18/19/20/21 have been approved by the VTA Board earlier this year and are available for Gilroy. We are getting $35,648/year and that gives us $142,592 available today to spend/plan on education & encouragement. It’s important to get this program into the mid-year budget cycle, because it’s a use it or lose it program. You need to provide written explanation to carry over funds over three years from a fiscal year. We are currently in FY 20. This started FY 18. June 30, 2020 will be end of three year for FY 18. I feel that we can do a great job sustaining the momentum we have while utilizing the savings we have built up from past fiscal years in Measure B. Gilroy City Council approved the funding agreement with VTA in August 2019.
We decided to keep Measure B E&E on our monthly agenda, now was the time to develop the programs. For our September meeting our Gilroy BPAC drafted the first general work plan for Measure B E&E. It was a broad stroke and we tried to cover everything our City has engaged in. Our Gilroy BPAC drafts all of our documents ourselves and we don’t utilize staff time for any of them. I contacted VTA with the approved work plan and asked if it needs to go into more specific details, and I was then told a template will be used for formal submission. VTA also told me that the work plan needed to go deeper and separate into individual work plans. City Staff reported to us that they had no plans for the funding and needed a “champion” to run the program. They were at full capacity to manage a program. After the meeting Vice-Chair Sean Reedy and myself began brainstorming and drafting work plans. We always had in mind that while we wanted them to be Gilroy specific, they are written up to be used across the County for any city. In talking with other BPAC’s and city’s we know, we quickly realized that no plans were being drafted. We have the ability as BPAC’s to be the forward thinkers and plan. Sometimes that’s not possible for City Staff. The have to deal with what’s in hand at the moment. Everyone was waiting around for the “template” before they moved forward. By the October 2019 meeting we had drafted 6 work plans. All can be found on our website http://www.cityofgilroy.org/280/Bicycle-Pedestrian-Commission and by searching Gilroy Bike Ped.
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Bike to Work Day Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Community Bike/Walks Counts Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Community Engagement Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E General Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Online Media Campaign Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Safe Routes to School Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Community Bike/Walks Counts Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Community Engagement Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E General Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Online Media Campaign Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Safe Routes to School Work Plan
Before we advocated for the work plans to City Council we met with Gilroy’s City Administrator and Director of Finance. The City Administrator stated that since this is a program for the next 30 years, in order to sustain it, it needs to be entered into the upcoming Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) Mid-Year Budget as an amendment. The Finance Director who reviewed the funding agreement and stated that it seemed to look straight forward, and no reason to believe that we shouldn't' be able to expense and then receive the funding back from VTA within 30 days. This sounds correct to me as well because I believe if VTA were to make this more difficult, then cities probably wouldn't be bothering with the agreement for the amounts we are receiving. At our December annual presentation to City Council we recapped the year and then focused on advocating for our work plans. The advocacy has paid off. This Jan/Feb during the Mid-Year Budget review the program will be introduced and will incorporate the Gilroy BPAC work plans for council review and approval.
So in passing along this information I propose the following questions to you. Is your City ready to start spending Measure B E&E funds? Have they signed the funding agreement? Do they have work plans? If you don’t know these answers, contact your local BPAC. I am always available for questions as well. Zachary.Hilton@cityofgilroy.org #GilroyBPAC @hoseman16
