Federal officials say it’s too soon for Honolulu officials to celebrate $250 million in the Federal Transit Administration is tentatively recommending for the city’s rail project. The money is included in a list of nine cities with “pending Full Funding Grant Agreements.”
Honolulu officials are banking on getting a total of $1.55 billion in federal money to help pay for the $5.5 billion rail line, but the federal government won’t guarantee any future1 funds to back the project until the city and FTA enter into what’s known as a Full Funding Grant Agreement.
“You cannot expect that,” FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff told reporters in a Tuesday conference call. “We are expecting a new financial plan from Honolulu in the spring … We need to see a financial plan that shows they have not only the funding to meet their obligations (for the rail project), they also need to show us they have sufficient resources to keep the existing bus service operating and well maintained.”
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A previous version of this story did not include the word “future.” A city official pointed out that Honolulu has already received $60 million in federal funds that would be considered part of the $1.55 billion Honolulu hopes to receive.
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Rogoff also emphasized he’s “very optimistic” about the city’s rail plans, mentioning his recent meetings with Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle and discussions about the project with Gov. Neil Abercrombie before the former congressman left Washington to run for governor.
“If we didn’t think we were going to get to the finish line, we would not have put this additional increment in the budget,” Rogoff said of the pending $250 million for Honolulu.
But as part of President Barack Obama’s spending plan, that figure is subject to legislative approval. That may be difficult this year as congressional leaders backed by a newly-elected Republican majority are already outlining plans to slash the Transportation budget.
City rail planners have taken some huge leaps since the last time FTA assessed its New Starts funding recommendations one year ago:
- The city completed a final Environmental Impact Statement
- The governor accepted that document
- The FTA issued a Record of Decision, signaling its approval of the plan
Rail Hinges on New Financial Plan
Honolulu’s updated financial plan will be a key component of the city’s application for a Full Funding Grant Agreement. Honolulu is the only city out of 21 that earned a “low” rating for its “reasonableness of estimates and financial capacity” in the 2012 New Starts funding assessment. That “low” rating contributes to an overall “medium” rating in an evaluation of the city’s capital plan.
One of the city’s chief rail planners said while it officially appears the project may be on shaky financial ground, it is actually in better financial shape than anticipated. Wayne Yoshioka, acting director of the Department of Transportation Services, said the city included the possibility of raiding bus funds to pay for rail as a “worst-case scenario” back-up option, but the inclusion of such a plan made Honolulu look worse-off than it actually is.
“If it’s really, really stark in terms of collections, we can always rely on federal bus money, about $300 million worth, was the assumption,” Yoshioka told Civil Beat. “That was picked up to mean that we’re going to take that money away from what we currently apply to the bus and apply it to the transit. We won’t. If we didn’t include that, we would get a high rating.”
He also continues to point to a pair of rail-related contracts that the city secured for a total of $150 million cheaper than anticipated.
“The thing is, it’s a work in progress right now,” Yoshioka said. “A lot of this will come out as we start to refine our preparation for entry into final design. The estimates of cost become more well refined.”
As officials work to finalize the financial plan, they’re also putting shovels in the ground. A groundbreaking for the limited rail construction that’s allowed to begin at this stage — some utility work and property acquisition, for example — is scheduled for next week. Yoshioka told Civil Beat he expects the city to enter into the final design stage, and the Full Funding Grant Agreement he hopes comes with it, “toward the mid to latter part of this year.”
City officials are also working to throw out two lawsuits aimed at thwarting the project. For now, Yoshioka said his biggest concern is simply moving forward with rail.
“We’re feeling pretty good about where we sit,” Yoshioka said. “One of the most important things is to make sure we clearly get the (funding) authority formulated and underway. There are a lot of paths going on simultaneously. Multiple contracts, multiple tasks, everything’s going all at once, and the more we can focus on moving forward, the better.”
Republican Cuts Threaten Transportation Projects
Rogoff shares Yoshioka’s sentiment, and refused to entertain the notion that Obama’s vision for America’s transportation future might not be advanced by the Legislative branch of government.
But it’s a very real possibility. Obama’s plan nearly doubles the $287 billion his predecessor appropriated for a five-year transportation spending plan. But leading Republicans are president’s spending plan, which includes $556 billion for transportation, calling it a “failure” and a “step backward.”
In a plan to keep the government running through the rest of this fiscal year, Congressman Paul Ryan — the Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Budget Committee — proposed making more than $30 billion in cuts. Ryan’s plan includes slashing the Department of Transportation budget.
Kentucky Congressman Hal Rogers — the Republican who chairs the House Appropriations Committee — then outlined to keep the government running that includes about $60 billion in cuts. Rogers’ spending plan slashes more than $250 million in FTA’s capital investment spending, including New Starts grants, and more than $1.2 billion for high-speed rail and Amtrak.
Hawaii Democrat Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, blasted the Republican approach in the House. Though some Republicans support rail projects as a way to boost job creation, there’s political pressure for them to undermine Democrats ahead of the 2012 election. Other Republicans complain Ryan and Rogers cuts don’t go deep enough.
“I am not going to talk about what we would do at a different funding level,” Rogoff said. “Obviously, the president has put forward a plan that involves growing this program, not shrinking it. Obviously, you know, any of their cuts would set us backwards rather than forward… we are determined to move forward.”
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