[0:03] Well, hello everyone. Welcome to the

[0:06] WFRC budget committee meeting for March

[0:08] 19th, 2026.

[0:11] We'll call this meeting to order and um

[0:15] go to our agenda. We do have um

[0:19] introductions and consent agenda. I

[0:22] don't know if we need introductions

[0:24] here, but um we

[0:26] >> we would just like to read the names in

[0:28] for the record.

[0:30] >> Please go ahead.

[0:31] >> Okay. Thanks. Um on the call today, we

[0:34] have Marian Florence, Andrea Pearson,

[0:37] Scott Wardle, Kevin Wells, Andrew

[0:40] Gruber, Wayne Benan, Amy Wender Newton,

[0:43] Bob Stevenson, and Lee Perry. Thank you.

[0:47] >> Thank you. Um, so our first item on 1A

[0:51] is some action to approve the minutes of

[0:54] October 9th and accept the financial

[0:57] statements and check registers as well

[0:59] as look at the current financial report.

[1:03] And I'll turn it. Marian, do you have

[1:04] anything you want to add there or do you

[1:06] are you good if we

[1:07] >> I'm Yeah, the packet contains um both

[1:12] reports, financial reports as well as

[1:14] bank statements and check registers

[1:15] which is our practice. Um, so I do

[1:19] attach a memo there looking at the

[1:21] period that is reflected in the

[1:23] financial report. So everything is on

[1:26] track. Um, and so that is really

[1:28] provided to you for transparency and

[1:30] your oversight.

[1:33] >> Does anybody have any questions on any

[1:35] of that?

[1:38] » That not. I'll make a motion we pass the

[1:41] minutes as written.

[1:42] >> Second. I'll second it. Oh, give it to

[1:46] whoever else.

[1:48] >> Are you good if your uh motion includes

[1:52] the minutes, the financial statements

[1:54] and check registers as well as the

[1:55] current financial report

[1:57] >> A, B, C, and D.

[1:59] >> Okay. Our whole consent agenda all in

[2:01] one fell swoop. Perfect. And let's see

[2:04] who

[2:05] >> second Harvey. And that I that's what I

[2:08] understood was items A, B, C, and D.

[2:10] Thank you.

[2:11] >> Perfect. Thank you so much,

[2:13] Commissioner. Okay. Um, is there any

[2:15] questions or comments before we vote?

[2:19] >> Seeing none, we'll call for the vote.

[2:21] All in favor say I.

[2:23] >> I.

[2:23] Any opposed?

[2:26] Okay, that passes unanimously.

[2:29] Thank you. We're going to go to item

[2:30] number two. That's public comment. Is

[2:32] there anybody here from the public who

[2:34] would like to comment today?

[2:38] Darn it. Someday we're going to get

[2:40] somebody. I just know it. So, not today.

[2:43] Um, so we'll go to item number three.

[2:46] This is our WFRC budget committee item.

[2:49] And um, we have for you to look over the

[2:53] release of the draft fiscal year 27 of

[2:56] the WFRC goals, budget, and unified

[2:59] planning work program. Um, so I will

[3:03] turn this over to staff for any comments

[3:06] or introduction on this.

[3:09] >> Thank you. I'm going to um let Andrew

[3:11] talk about our goals to begin.

[3:14] >> Thanks, Marian. Uh thanks, Madame Chair.

[3:17] And hey, everybody, thank you for

[3:18] joining us for this meeting. Um

[3:22] as um the chair noted, we have one

[3:24] action item today. Uh and that's

[3:27] releasing for review and public review

[3:31] and comment our draft goals, budget, and

[3:34] unified planning work program for next

[3:37] fiscal year. Um

[3:40] this is a a something we do every year.

[3:42] It's a so it is a routine meeting but it

[3:45] is important. Um you know it's just our

[3:48] budget and everything we're going to do

[3:50] next year. So it's very uh important. Um

[3:53] but let me say this to you. This is um

[3:58] there is nothing here in our view that

[4:01] is out of the ordinary or exciting. Um

[4:05] uh like you I serve in a lot of

[4:07] organizations where we review a budget

[4:09] and it's always I always feel like it's

[4:10] helpful to know upfront like is there

[4:12] something big and unusual happening and

[4:14] the answer is no there are some changes

[4:17] but there are the types of changes that

[4:19] we go through in contracting amount of

[4:23] our contracts that go up and down that's

[4:25] a routine thing we'll explain that a

[4:27] little bit but overall the budget is

[4:29] very stable actually come our proposed

[4:31] budget proposed of course is coming

[4:34] down. Um so, uh we'll get into the

[4:37] details, but I just wanted to give you

[4:38] that sort of big picture, um context as

[4:41] a as a starting point. Um I'll talk some

[4:44] about the proposed goals for our agency

[4:48] for next year for fiscal year 27.

[4:51] Um ask any questions, of course, give

[4:53] any feedback or direction that you have.

[4:56] Uh and then Marian will talk about uh

[4:59] the budget for next year. Um, and then

[5:03] we typically don't go into detail on the

[5:06] unified planning work program. That's

[5:08] part three of these pieces. The unified

[5:11] planning work program again is the much

[5:14] more detailed version of the work that

[5:17] we anticipate doing next year. In

[5:19] contrast to the one page uh on the

[5:22] goals, we can talk about anything that

[5:24] you want in as much detail as you would

[5:28] like. Um but our intention is to be

[5:31] relatively succinct um as we present

[5:34] this uh information to you on process.

[5:38] So we have this budget committee meeting

[5:40] now March. Uh your action uh is to you

[5:45] know authorize us to go next to our

[5:48] council meeting which is next Thursday

[5:50] our f full council meeting next Thursday

[5:52] afternoon where we would do an

[5:54] abbreviated version. Uh, council member

[5:57] Winder Newton, of course, will work with

[5:58] you on how that gets presented, but an

[6:00] abbreviated version of this for the

[6:02] council meeting. The council's vote then

[6:05] is to release for public comment. We

[6:08] send the material to all the COGS. We

[6:10] put it make it available for review by

[6:11] anybody who wants to, and then we come

[6:13] back again in May, a budget committee

[6:16] meeting, and then final action at the

[6:18] May council meeting. That's the process.

[6:20] You all know this before, although I

[6:22] think if I've got this right, and if I

[6:25] don't, I'm going to be a little

[6:26] embarrassed. Um, this is Commissioner

[6:28] Harvey's first budget committee meeting.

[6:32] >> We have had some we've had some

[6:34] turnover.

[6:35] >> Um, and so, Commissioner Harvey, we're

[6:37] so happy to have you. Thank you for

[6:39] agreeing uh to participate in this. And

[6:42] hopefully everything I just said makes

[6:43] sense to you. If you or anybody wants to

[6:45] ask a question about that, of course,

[6:46] you can. I actually trust the process.

[6:49] It It may be mundane for the rest of

[6:52] you, but it's uh eye opening for me.

[6:55] Thank you.

[6:56] >> Thanks, Commissioner. And if you're

[6:58] driving, focus on driving. Are you in a

[7:00] car? Is he in a car?

[7:01] >> I pulled over. I pulled over so that I

[7:04] could uh I could be safe. Thank you.

[7:07] >> Good.

[7:08] >> Andrew, this is Jim's nap time. This is

[7:11] Tim's nap time. And you notice his eyes

[7:13] are barely open. So, Jim, take a take a

[7:17] few swigs of that Diet Coke real quick.

[7:20] >> I think his seats even back a little.

[7:23] >> Yes. And and I Bob, I want to tell you

[7:26] too that that senior center you're at

[7:28] right now is beautiful. Thank you.

[7:32] >> I just thought that Commissioner Harvey

[7:34] was really intently focused. That's what

[7:36] I was sensing, but I don't know. I don't

[7:38] know.

[7:39] >> Good. Good. Thank you.

[7:40] >> Um Okay. So, um, without further ado,

[7:44] let's talk about the goals. Okay. Um,

[7:48] uh, what we're putting on screen here

[7:51] for you is a redline version, meaning

[7:54] it's showing the proposed goals with the

[7:57] modifications from 26. Um,

[8:02] we did some notable changes from 25 to

[8:04] 26 in the goals. This year from 26 to 27

[8:10] what we are proposing to you is

[8:12] significant continuity in the goals. Uh

[8:16] this is largely because the work of our

[8:18] agency is actually you know carries out

[8:22] year after year and we have many

[8:23] activities that carry yeartoyear. Um and

[8:27] so there's consistency from one year to

[8:29] the next in the goals. That's not a

[8:30] surprise. Um I'll just do real quick

[8:33] topline that we have three proposed

[8:36] goals that have we are not suggesting

[8:38] change from 26 to 27. I'll hit each of

[8:41] those and then come back to show you a

[8:43] little bit of what what we are proposing

[8:44] to change. Goal number one

[8:46] collaboratively advance the WASA choice

[8:48] vision to accommodate growth and enhance

[8:49] quality of life. Marian goal number two

[8:52] provide subject matter expertise to

[8:54] federal, state and local officials and

[8:56] policy makers. And goal number three is

[8:58] the internal goal. Strive for

[9:01] organizational excellence. Okay. So

[9:03] let's go up to the first one. Uh

[9:05] advancing the wasat choice vision for

[9:06] growth growth and quality of life.

[9:08] You'll see that we split this into sort

[9:10] of three buckets of the overall vision.

[9:13] There's a regional plans. There's

[9:16] funding and assistance that we provide

[9:18] to our communities to your communities.

[9:20] Um, and then there's other types of

[9:22] resources that we make available to the

[9:25] communities and stakeholders and

[9:27] partners as we go through this uh, great

[9:29] fun and important work we get to do

[9:31] together. Um,

[9:34] we are happy to take comments or

[9:35] questions about anything even if it's

[9:37] not proposed to be changed. The red are

[9:40] proposed modifications. And if you can

[9:42] see it, you'll see it's mainly word

[9:44] smithing candidly, not really

[9:46] substantive changes like the first one

[9:48] changing as a component of the vision to

[9:51] as the transportation component of the

[9:53] vision. It's word smithing. Um to better

[9:57] slightly better express what we think

[9:59] the goals are. I will note one new

[10:03] proposed sub goal under resources

[10:07] which is formalized measurement of

[10:08] progress towards the Wasatch choice

[10:10] vision. It is one thing to have a vision

[10:13] and know where we want to go. Critically

[10:15] important. It is also really essential

[10:18] to evaluate how we are doing on an we I

[10:22] don't mean WFRC I mean our region and

[10:24] our communities. How are we doing

[10:26] year-toear in advancing towards

[10:28] achieving that vision? So we have been

[10:31] working on this and it's something that

[10:32] we really want to uh finalize AC um

[10:36] across the next year so we can tell are

[10:38] we moving in the right direction.

[10:40] Transportation choices, housing options,

[10:43] etc. I won't go into detail on that, but

[10:45] measuring progress is something that's

[10:47] really important if you want to get to

[10:49] the goal that you're aiming for. So

[10:51] that's the that's the one uh new sort of

[10:54] um emphasis area.

[10:58] Uh madam chair I'll just keep going in

[10:59] case any unless anybody wants to jump

[11:01] in. The second one again is the subject

[11:03] matter expertise. This is the policy

[11:06] work. You know the first one is federal

[11:08] uh issues. Um we'll talk about federal

[11:12] budget in just a in a moment just a

[11:14] little bit. Um the second one is state

[11:16] and local officials. And there's just a

[11:18] tweak here um just because a little bit

[11:21] of sensitivity. We're rather than saying

[11:23] engage in policym we're saying provide

[11:26] information and resources to state and

[11:28] local officials and policy makers. Um

[11:32] again mainly word smithing or sort of uh

[11:34] tonal tweaks. And then in item three is

[11:38] again our internal goal of striving for

[11:40] organizational excellence. We've

[11:41] reframed this goal a little bit about ma

[11:45] engagement

[11:46] uh and accountability

[11:49] uh using our tools like our website and

[11:51] regular communications but of course and

[11:53] I'll I'll read this one because you are

[11:55] the budget committee use resources

[11:57] prudently and efficiently maintain

[11:59] budget stability and these notions of

[12:02] prudence and use of our funds

[12:04] transparency in the way that we do

[12:06] things that weaves through everything we

[12:08] do particularly you uh the budget

[12:11] committee. Um we won't go into much

[12:14] detail, but at any point if any of you

[12:16] have questions now or offline about

[12:18] anything we talk about today, we're

[12:19] always happy to to cover that in any

[12:21] detail as you would like. Madame Chair,

[12:24] I'll stop there and see if you or

[12:26] anybody has any comments or reactions to

[12:28] these um three goals and the modest

[12:31] modifications we're proposing.

[12:34] >> All right. Do you guys have any

[12:37] uh any goals any questions or issues or

[12:42] comments on any of these?

[12:46] I absolutely love the transparency and

[12:49] the thoroughess that you've gone through

[12:50] with this. Um, a as you talk about

[12:53] sitting with other organizations, I

[12:55] couldn't agree more that the values and

[12:57] the goals drive everything else and the

[12:59] behaviors and outcome and and Marian and Andrew and your team have done an

[13:04] amazing job with this.

[13:07] >> Agreed.

[13:08] Someday though, I have to be honest, I

[13:11] have this dream of coming to one of

[13:13] these meetings and like throwing out

[13:15] some big bomb just to freak Andrew out

[13:18] and having you all go along with it. But

[13:20] I'm not going to do that today. So,

[13:22] >> thank you.

[13:23] >> Much appreciated.

[13:25] >> Well, you know, Amy, you have a few

[13:27] meetings left. So, um,

[13:29] >> I know I'm worried about her last.

[13:33] » Okay.

[13:34] >> Well, I've done my fair share, I feel

[13:35] like, during the time I've been here,

[13:37] throwing out little things that you do

[13:40] is ask really good questions that make

[13:42] us think and like I really like your

[13:44] questions actually.

[13:45] >> Well, thank you. You guys do a great job

[13:48] and we are so lucky to be in such good

[13:50] hands on this. Um, I think this looks

[13:52] great. Does anybody have any Do you guys

[13:56] have anything else, Andrew or Marian

[13:58] that you want to add or are we good to

[14:01] go?

[14:03] >> Do you you want a motion to move this

[14:04] forward to the meeting?

[14:05] >> No, my our suggestion is that we do

[14:07] ultimately we let it we our suggestion

[14:09] is we do goals and budget work program

[14:11] and then we do one motion on all of

[14:13] them. So, if it's okay

[14:13] >> Oh, you want it on all? Okay.

[14:15] >> Yeah. Yeah. And we can do it however you

[14:16] want, but that would work. And if so, we

[14:17] could just move on to budget now if that

[14:19] works for you.

[14:20] >> Let's do it. Let's do it.

[14:22] >> So, um, Commissioner Harvey is is new to

[14:25] this. Um, there are a lot of numbers.

[14:28] And so, this year I I'm starting again

[14:30] with the numbers as usual, but I'm also

[14:33] going to run you briefly through the

[14:35] presentation. Um, it's similar to the

[14:38] one that I did last May for the council,

[14:39] which really gives the the really

[14:41] topline overview. Um, we're always

[14:44] trying to strike that balance between

[14:46] the transparency and the detail and and

[14:49] the really like the big picture what is happening. And as Andrew noted,

[14:54] it's a again a stable budget. And what

[14:56] we're doing is um this budget document

[15:00] is divided into three sections. The

[15:03] first is by category is the expenditures

[15:06] by category and then the second is the

[15:08] expenditures um by program. All of the

[15:12] work that we do falls under these

[15:14] programs. Um, local government other is

[15:17] kind of our thing, anything that's kind

[15:19] of outside of these specific programs.

[15:21] Um, but our work is very well understood

[15:24] in this context. And then the third

[15:27] section is about revenues. And of

[15:29] course, as a governmental agency, we are

[15:31] driven by revenues. all all of the work

[15:33] that we do is um is from the revenues

[15:37] that we have and the mandates that we

[15:39] have um in to do that work. So starting

[15:42] back at the top

[15:43] >> Marian just one clarification these are

[15:45] sort of three different ways of looking

[15:47] at the same information right by by

[15:50] function by program and by revenue

[15:52] source. Okay. Thank you.

[15:53] >> Exactly. So all of the

[15:55] >> Thank you. All of those numbers are the

[15:57] exact are the same and in the totals and

[16:00] then across the top you'll see last

[16:02] year's actuals and then the current year

[16:05] FY26 has three columns. the initial

[16:08] budget, which is the same as what we're

[16:10] looking at proposing today, the

[16:12] equivalent from last year, which is why

[16:14] that is highlighted um and in gray, and

[16:19] then the amended budget, which is what

[16:22] we do in October, and then an estimate

[16:24] for this current year. Um, and so what I

[16:27] like to do is compare this column of the

[16:29] initial budget from last year to the

[16:32] column of initial budget this year

[16:33] because when we create our initial

[16:35] budget, we're looking at new funding um

[16:38] for the coming year. And so what we're

[16:41] looking for is changes in those numbers.

[16:44] And as you can see, many of them are

[16:45] zero. Um, and the big change is here on

[16:49] what we call the contractual line. And

[16:51] that really represents projects that

[16:54] we're working on. And so what happens is

[16:56] that the salary, we really um we

[17:00] prioritize our staff really. And so that

[17:02] line always has a little bit of a um

[17:05] increase where we have a cap. We don't

[17:08] know what COLA is yet. We don't know

[17:10] merit. We actually don't know our health

[17:12] benefits um increase because that

[17:14] happens in January. So, we make an

[17:17] increase to hold as a maximum budget

[17:20] number um to hold what we plan to do and

[17:23] we'll be doing that work in the spring

[17:25] to make sure that what when we give

[17:27] those increases when we have cola when

[17:29] we have um retirement changes from URS

[17:33] um some of these are changes that we

[17:35] initiate and some are are reactions to

[17:38] um our benefits broker and the and the

[17:41] retirement plans and that kind of thing.

[17:43] So, so this first line does go up and

[17:47] then the second line goes down $1.6

[17:49] million.

[17:51] >> Marian, let me Mary, excuse me. Let me

[17:52] just again jump in, please. So, so just

[17:55] to reiterate that salary and employee

[17:57] benefits line item, the largest item in

[17:59] our budget for our staff, you see it

[18:02] going up only by 2%. And that's the net

[18:06] effect of a variety of things happening,

[18:08] timing of staff, you know, changes and

[18:11] also anticipating, as Marian said,

[18:16] >> uh, some degree of COLA merit and and,

[18:19] um, uh, benefit cost changes, although

[18:21] we have not settled those. And Marian,

[18:22] maybe you were going to do this later,

[18:23] but, you know, noting that we uh,

[18:27] consult with the cities and counties

[18:31] around our region. We look at what the

[18:33] state's doing to make sure that what we

[18:35] do is in line with

[18:38] um the sort of custom of what uh you all

[18:41] are doing uh when we're looking at uh

[18:44] salaries and also uh adjustments.

[18:47] >> Exactly.

[18:48] >> That's reasonable. Great. Thank you.

[18:52] >> So, uh this biggest change here of $1.6

[18:55] $6 million um really reflects the fact

[18:58] that when we created our initial budget

[19:01] last year, we had three big projects

[19:04] that we were including in that budget

[19:06] which have either been adjusted or

[19:08] finished into this year. One um was that

[19:12] we initially budgeted for the entire

[19:14] three-year activity- based model

[19:17] development project and then we have

[19:19] adjusted to only budget for one of those

[19:21] years at a time. It's a three-year

[19:23] project um that we're doing in

[19:25] partnership with MAG and UD do and UTA.

[19:28] Um we've completed, if you recall about

[19:31] four years ago, um we have $5 million

[19:35] that we share with MAG to accomplish the

[19:38] station area planning work in both of

[19:40] our areas. And over time, that work has

[19:44] been done. And so each year our initial

[19:47] budget for that work goes down um to to

[19:50] represent the fact that we've done that

[19:52] work in in the past years. So I think

[19:54] this FY27 will be our final final year

[19:58] of that curve coming down. Uh last year

[20:01] we also concluded um our roadway or this

[20:04] current year we're concluding our

[20:06] roadway safety audits and so next year

[20:07] we won't see that in the budget. Um so

[20:11] those three projects together um ending

[20:15] mean that this number of our total

[20:17] budget then comes down um from it was

[20:21] 12.2

[20:22] a year ago in March and now it's 10.6

[20:25] six this year. And again, um I'll show a

[20:28] graph to you, but basically this, as I

[20:30] said, is is really as a a function of

[20:33] the programs. And so here we have by

[20:37] program, and you can see that um there's

[20:41] not a lot of fluctuation until you get

[20:43] here to the bottom. The station area

[20:45] planning is down by a half a million

[20:47] dollars. The activity based model is

[20:49] down 777 safe streets for all. So that's

[20:52] where the change is happening. in this

[20:54] other work that we're doing. The budget

[20:56] is stable. We're continuing um to work

[20:59] in these areas and our our core planning

[21:02] work in the consolidated transportation

[21:04] planning grant um is going up by 3%. So

[21:09] that and that is pretty typical for for

[21:11] us. Um

[21:14] are there any questions on that expense

[21:16] side? I want to there again there's a

[21:19] lot of lines and I'm happy to to dig in.

[21:22] Um, that's also obviously in your packet

[21:24] if you want to ever go back and then ask

[21:26] me questions. That's good.

[21:29] >> Madame Chair, if I may.

[21:30] >> Yes, please. Commissioner Harvey.

[21:33] >> These are all uh line though. These

[21:35] lines, if I understood or was listening

[21:38] correctly, these are all lines that are

[21:40] a little bit fluid. They will move

[21:41] around a little bit between uh now and

[21:44] the next few months. Is that correct?

[21:47] >> Some of them.

[21:48] >> Just briefly, just briefly. I'm not

[21:50] talking huge swings, but slightly.

[21:53] >> Yeah. So, what happens um Commissioner,

[21:55] that's a good point. We start the year,

[21:58] um for instance, knowing that we have um

[22:01] that we have this new money coming in

[22:03] and then if we don't finish a project in

[22:06] this current year, in October, we'll

[22:08] amend the budget to include that that

[22:10] amount. So that's why the final the

[22:13] October budget then includes a lot of

[22:15] projects that we're working on right now

[22:17] and we're not we're not sure when the

[22:19] ending will be and when we finish June

[22:22] 30th anything that's um still awarded to

[22:26] projects that we have not spent yet

[22:27] comes over into the into the new year.

[22:29] So yeah

[22:30] >> understand thank you.

[22:32] >> Awesome. Um on the revenue side, uh you

[22:36] can see obviously the revenues match the

[22:40] expenses, some one for one. Um a lot of this is, you know, supporting

[22:46] the programs that you were just looking

[22:48] at there in the list. Um Andrew, did you

[22:51] want to take a minute to talk about the

[22:53] federal sources here? Um,

[22:57] federal funds represent the majority of

[23:01] our revenues, about 75% of our revenues.

[23:04] They come through through US DOT and

[23:07] they are um mainly these formula funds

[23:12] uh that are authorized in the in the

[23:15] surface transportation authorization

[23:17] legislation which happens every five or

[23:19] so years. That authorization expires

[23:22] this year, September 30, 2026.

[23:25] And um I was just in DC, Monday through

[23:29] Wednesday. And uh the projections

[23:32] predictions at this point are that

[23:34] Congress is not going to get that

[23:36] reauthorization bill done on time. Uh

[23:40] which means that they will likely do a

[23:42] continuing resolution for a year or so.

[23:45] Remains to be seen. So in a way there's

[23:48] a lot going on in Washington on

[23:50] transportation funding as these issues

[23:52] are being debated but also not much is

[23:55] happening. I don't expect any uh

[23:57] legislation to pass in this regard for

[23:59] some period of time. Um the good news is

[24:03] that the transportation funding has been

[24:05] really stable uh year in year out. The

[24:08] funding that comes to us as a

[24:09] metropolitan planning organization year

[24:11] in year out has been stable. Um, one of

[24:14] the big pushes and Commissioner

[24:16] Stevenson has been really involved uh in

[24:19] this. He co-chairs the transportation

[24:22] committee for the National Association

[24:23] of Regional Councils. One of our big

[24:26] pushes with our peers around the country

[24:27] is to increase what you see on the

[24:29] screen in front of you, federal highway

[24:31] admin PL or planning, metropolitan

[24:34] planning funding. That's the core money

[24:36] that allows us to do what we do. Uh, and

[24:40] it has not kept up. uh with inflation,

[24:44] let alone the you know growth of our

[24:46] region and increased complexity of the

[24:48] demands on our work. And so one of the

[24:51] things that across the nation we've been

[24:53] advocating for uh is an increase in the

[24:56] next bill for the PL funding and

[24:57] metropolitan planning funding from the

[24:59] feds. We'll see a year from now we may

[25:02] be saying exactly the same thing. Um so

[25:05] that's just a little bit of context. Uh

[25:07] the basic point, however, is the federal

[25:09] funding is uh stable and not

[25:12] significantly uh changing one year uh to

[25:15] the next.

[25:17] >> Thank you. Um we also of course um have

[25:21] funding from our state partners. Um I

[25:25] can go into these in in more detail, but

[25:27] you can see the list. We work with the

[25:29] governor's office of planning and

[25:30] budget, the governor's office of

[25:32] economic opportunity, certainly UD do

[25:35] even um we've had new partnerships with

[25:38] the department of commerce. They have a

[25:39] land use training fund and they're

[25:41] really supportive of the work that we're

[25:43] doing and that's been an a great new

[25:45] partnership for us to get the resources

[25:47] that we're making um you know centers

[25:50] visualization and green field

[25:52] visualizations. We've gotten some recent

[25:55] grants from them to do that work. Um,

[25:57] which is really cool. Uh, in the local

[26:00] side, we partner with MAG, with UTA,

[26:04] um, and then we have, of course, local

[26:06] match from local communities when we do

[26:08] TLC projects. And then we also have

[26:11] local support from our member counties.

[26:14] Um, each year we receive those local

[26:16] contributions to to provide the required

[26:19] match for those federal funds that we

[26:20] were talking about. um and also to

[26:23] support the other work that we do that's

[26:25] outside of our MO responsibilities. Uh

[26:29] last year we had a good discussion about

[26:30] the approach to county contributions. Um

[26:33] I put together a a memo, wrote a little

[26:35] paper about it. Um and sent that sent

[26:38] that over to you. I'm happy to revisit

[26:41] that. Happy to send more information if

[26:44] you'd like. Um this year as as as I

[26:47] mentioned in that memo, we do calculate

[26:51] the increase as was discussed in the um

[26:54] so in 2018 the budget committee um after

[26:58] extensive evaluation with staff about

[27:00] prudent financial stability and etc.

[27:03] They created a process where we look

[27:05] back over three years and take the

[27:08] average CPI to kind to keep those local

[27:11] match dollars in line with inflation.

[27:14] And so what it means is that we've just

[27:16] come off of a couple of high years and

[27:18] we're now at 2.87%

[27:21] is the is the amount that we are

[27:23] projecting for our next year's budget.

[27:25] Andrew, did you want to say anything on

[27:27] that?

[27:28] >> Well, just these numbers that you have

[27:30] here. So like you know for for uh the Davis 87,000 that's a number that

[27:36] we've already provided to the the

[27:41] counties, right? These are Exactly. I've

[27:44] been in touch with each county uh to

[27:46] confirm these numbers. Um I I do that in

[27:49] August because of the the calendar year

[27:51] for the counties is different than our

[27:53] fiscal year. So,

[27:54] >> right. So, these numbers are are stuff

[27:56] that we've give we actually gave you

[27:58] last year.

[27:59] >> Yes. before you were building your own

[28:01] county budgets and that um you know

[28:05] adjustment so that we maintained uh you

[28:08] know we don't fall behind on inflation

[28:10] as I was noting before on some of the

[28:12] other sources has been meaningful and

[28:14] important so yeah and uh council member

[28:17] madam chair uh you had raised ask good

[28:20] questions about this we provided you

[28:21] know information back to everybody on

[28:23] the budget committee is there anything

[28:24] else you wanted to talk about about this

[28:27] >> no in fact I was just reviewing ing the

[28:29] memo as we were um as we were talking

[28:32] about this. Does anybody else have any I

[28:34] assume you guys have lots of information

[28:37] on this. Does anyone else have any

[28:39] comments? I feel like Andrew and I have

[28:41] had some good discussions and um feel I

[28:44] feel good about where we are and what

[28:46] we're proposing to do to increase each

[28:49] year in a conservative manner. So just

[28:52] curious if anybody else has any comments

[28:54] or questions related to this.

[29:01] Okay, thank you.

[29:03] >> Excellent. And I I'll just reiterate,

[29:05] I'm always happy to um talk through if a question comes to you later um or

[29:10] even historical context. That's been one

[29:12] of the fun things I've been able to do

[29:14] is really dig into old meeting minutes,

[29:16] which I really enjoy doing. So, if

[29:18] anybody wants to do, you know, dive

[29:20] >> Marian has a bit of a sickness.

[29:22] >> I do. I do.

[29:26] » I do. So, um that is the presentation. I

[29:30] do want to just um show you it's it's

[29:33] only five slides what I'm um thinking

[29:36] about for council again. It's like what

[29:38] we did last May basically to to give

[29:42] this overview. Oh, I can slideshow it.

[29:45] That's nice. Um and so we have the goals

[29:49] right up front. Andrew will will um talk

[29:52] to those briefly. Um and then this is

[29:55] the very top level uh number with the

[29:59] main staffing and consulting are the

[30:02] main things we spend money on. Um and so

[30:05] I'll talk to that just a bit. Um FY26

[30:09] initiatives that we are concluding this

[30:12] year, the ones that I I was talking

[30:14] about. Um and that's what causes our

[30:16] budget to come down for FY27. Here's

[30:21] some of the work that we plan to um

[30:23] really focus on in FY27.

[30:26] And and here is the graph that I think

[30:28] tells a great story. And Andrew said,

[30:31] "What does this graph show?" Like like

[30:34] one of those graphs that makes a lot of

[30:36] sense to me. It may make sense to you.

[30:38] Um the gray line is the CPG. It's it's

[30:42] our main it's the work we're doing, the bulk of the work we're doing. Um,

[30:47] and it's just growing slowly each year.

[30:50] The blue

[30:51] >> CPG is,

[30:52] >> sorry, the CPG is our main

[30:55] transportation planning work as an MO.

[30:57] That's our federally funded

[30:59] transportation planning work.

[31:01] >> Consolidated planning grant.

[31:04] Is that

[31:05] what you're Sorry, I thought I said it

[31:08] earlier, but So, that's our consolidated

[31:10] planning grant. That's the foundation of

[31:13] our work, hence the cement block gray.

[31:16] Um and then the blue is our t our

[31:18] transportation and land use connection

[31:20] program which every year um has about

[31:24] the same amount of money on it. And then

[31:26] you can see at the very top is called

[31:29] other. It's our rent our supplies. And

[31:32] so the thing the the way that our budget

[31:34] fluctuates in this initial budget is

[31:37] that those other projects that we're

[31:39] working on, stationary planning,

[31:41] activity based model, household travel

[31:43] survey, safe streets for all, those

[31:46] projects come and go in that initial

[31:48] budget and that's what causes our

[31:50] fluctuation. So to me, this is a a nice

[31:54] illustration. Um, and so hopefully it

[31:57] will be for others as well.

[31:59] Uh and then this is a a graph of our

[32:02] revenues uh where they come from. And so

[32:05] that really illustrates the many

[32:08] partnerships we have and the core work

[32:11] that we do that's federally funded. And

[32:13] then the motion that we'll be hoping to

[32:17] have at the council.

[32:20] So that concludes my presentation, but I

[32:23] am happy to take questions.

[32:26] Does anybody have any questions or

[32:29] comments on this the the propos

[32:35] all of these many proposals

[32:38] >> or or any of them? That's right.

[32:40] >> Yeah. And I will say also um Andrew

[32:42] mentioned at the beginning the third

[32:43] piece of this is our unified planning

[32:45] work program and we've provided a

[32:47] summary of that in your packets. Um

[32:50] Wayne Benan is the lead on that and it has all of we work together to both

[32:57] describe the work that we're going to do

[32:59] and we attach numbers to each piece of

[33:01] that work. Um and so that that is a a

[33:05] document we're required to have annually

[33:07] that we also are required to send out um

[33:11] to for public comment I believe. Is that

[33:14] right Wayne?

[33:18] » Yes.

[33:20] Well, technically we're not required to,

[33:23] but uh our federal partners uh encourage

[33:28] it and we're we like doing it.

[33:32] >> Yeah,

[33:34] >> that's great. All right. Well, thanks

[33:36] you guys. Anything else from any of our

[33:38] staff before we go to the the committee?

[33:43] Okay. Committee, any comments,

[33:45] questions,

[33:48] motions?

[33:52] » I make Oh, go ahead. Jamie, you got this

[33:55] one.

[33:57] >> I was just going to make a motion that

[33:58] we approve those those items that were

[34:01] brought out in that list,

[34:04] right? That's that presentation without

[34:07] a hesitation.

[34:08] >> And Jim's car can make a clean when he

[34:09] gets done here.

[34:11] This I think this may be a first in any

[34:15] Zoom meeting that I've ever been in that

[34:18] somebody is going through a car wash. I

[34:20] think so.

[34:21] >> But but I will second his motion because

[34:22] it's clean.

[34:24] >> I was going to say I I'm going to

[34:26] clarify his motion because I think some

[34:27] of the car washness made it a little

[34:30] muddled. So, I believe Commissioner

[34:32] Harvey made a motion to release the

[34:35] draft fiscal year 27 WFRC goals, budget,

[34:38] and unified planning work program for

[34:41] public comment. And that will go on our

[34:43] uh the the agenda for next Thursday.

[34:47] >> Yeah. So, it's a re technically it's a

[34:49] recommendation to the council to do what

[34:51] you just said.

[34:52] >> Correct.

[34:53] >> I'll second that.

[34:55] >> Okay. Thanks, Commissioner Harvey. Is

[34:57] that right? Did I get it all right?

[35:00] You articulated very well. Thank you.

[35:03] >> Hey, thank you. We appreciate that. All

[35:05] right. We have a second from Council

[35:08] Member Wardle. Any further discussion?

[35:12] All right. Seeing none, all in favor say

[35:14] I.

[35:15] >> I.

[35:16] >> Any opposed?

[35:19] That passes unanimously. Thank you.

[35:21] We'll now go to item number four, the

[35:23] executive director report.

[35:25] >> I don't This may surprise you. I don't

[35:28] think I have anything to report. Uh

[35:30] although I'm happy to talk about

[35:32] anything you would like me to or answer

[35:33] any questions if anybody has any

[35:38] >> any questions?

[35:39] >> Don't.

[35:41] >> Okay.

[35:42] >> Well, I'll look I'm just going to look

[35:43] around. Andrea, Kevin, Wayne, Marian, is

[35:47] there anything else you think we should

[35:48] share with this wonderful group of

[35:49] people?

[35:52] >> No.

[35:52] >> Just our

[35:54] No. Okay. Then I'll just say thank you

[35:56] to all of you budget committee uh

[35:58] members. This stuff that we do is

[36:00] important to us.

[36:02] >> How we use limited public dollars in an

[36:07] effective way and a transparent way. We

[36:09] really do take this very seriously and

[36:11] we appreciate um knowing that we have to

[36:14] put it together and present it to you

[36:15] and your comfort with what we're doing

[36:17] here uh is important to us. So thank

[36:20] you.

[36:21] >> Thanks Andrew. We appreciate you guys.

[36:23] Um, we will go to item number five. It's

[36:26] just other business and adjournment. And

[36:28] I don't believe we have any other

[36:29] business. I just will take note that

[36:32] next Thursday at 1:30 is our WFRC

[36:34] council meeting. And um there's a few

[36:38] other things on the agenda that you can

[36:40] read um other committees and uh events

[36:44] happening. So anyway, uh we will go

[36:47] ahead and adjourn this meeting unless

[36:49] there's dissent. Hey, Andrew. Do you

[36:52] want to stay on for a second and we can

[36:53] talk about whatever you're after about

[36:55] this morning?

[36:57] >> Oh, sure. Yes.

[36:59] >> Yes. We'll conclude the meeting and then

[37:01] do that. Sure.

[37:03] >> All right. Well, we are adjourned. Thank

[37:05] you so much, everyone.

[37:07] >> Thank you.

[37:07] Thank you.

Budget Committee - March 19, 2026

Transcript