CDTC's
The follow-up Airport Area Transportation Financing Task
Force created by the Town refined the financing arrangements of the GEIS. The Exit 3 improvements were put entirely in
the public sector's hands for financing, and other projects were judged best
implemented directly in conjunction with development (
Largely on the strength of the town's and county's initiative in the GEIS and financing plans that respected CDTC's public-private financing policy, CDTC's members added the Albany-Shaker Road and Watervliet-Shaker Road projects to the TIP in 1993 with the assumption that the standard funding splits of 80% federal, 15% state and 5% local funding shares would cover half the cost of each project. Based on development projections, it was assumed that mitigation fees and contribution of private lands for right-of-way would cover the balance of the cost. CDTC participants recognized that all the mitigation fees may not be in the bank prior to letting the project, and that it would probably be necessary for the county (as owner of the two facilities) to advance some of the project costs with county funds or bond proceeds and be reimbursed by mitigation fees as development occurs.
In subsequent years, mitigation fees were collected and used
for preliminary planning and design work.
The intersection at Watervliet-Shaker and
Concerns over the pace of mitigation fee receipts and
For the projects in the corridor (A275, A294 and A372) the project costs totalled $24.0M in the 1997-02 TIP. Of this, the TIP requires that the public share of 50%, or $12.0M ($9.0M federal; $1.8M state; $0.6M county). The 1997-02 TIP listed a private share of 50%, or $12.0M (apply available mitigation fees, supplement with public funds and reimburse with mitigation fees as collected).
Note that the 100% public financing of the project A294 (Watervliet-Shaker Road / New Karner Road intersection) and the application of mitigation fees against preliminary planning and design costs for A275 and A372 would adjust the public/private split of financial responsibilities of remaining phases of these projects.
Under federal law, CDTC may finance projects at any federal participation level up to 80%. Thus, no outside approval is needed for CDTC to use federal funds to cover up to 80% of the private share of the projects at the time the funds must be obligated, and replenish these funds to the TIP as mitigation fees are collected. With this in mind, CDTC adopted the following provisions in 1999 to govern the financing of these projects and address issues raised in the above section describing the background:
1.
2. CDTC commits to cover up to 80% of the private half of projects and establishes procedures for mitigation fees to replenish these funds to the TIP.
3. Mitigation fees in hand at the time of the loan would be applied against the requirement for a 20% match on the federal share for the private half. Any additional mitigation fees in hand at the time of the loan would reduce the size of the federal commitment on the private half of the projects.
4. As
further mitigation fees assigned to the corridor are received by the town,
these funds are held in escrow by the town.
They would then be applied to other TIP projects in the GEIS area to
reduce the public share of these projects.
(For example, they could be applied through a "betterment"
agreement between the town and state to reduce the federal cost of sidewalks on
5. CDTC retains the liability to adjust future TIP commitments should mitigation fees prove insufficient over time. Should mitigation fees prove insufficient, CDTC will end up having committed a greater amount of federal funds on these projects than initially intended, but will also end up having a facility with greater reserve capacity for through traffic than initially intended. The final federal share would end up being a share that matches the CDTC public-private financing policy.
6. When mitigation fees reach a total to cover the repayment installments, additional fees are kept in escrow to undertake future improvements in the corridor.
In addition to CDTC approval, NYSDOT, CDTC,
In the 2003-08 TIP, the five-year outlay of federal aid reflects an estimate of mitigation fees in hand at the time of obligation. Actual outlay will be determined by actual mitigation proceeds and the availability of federal funding per the process described above.
Since the adoption of the 1997-02 TIP, costs for airport
area projects have increased. The
projects in the