REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on an Agreement with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority for Funding from the 2016 Measure B Bicycle & Pedestrian Education and Encouragement Program [Council Pillar: Deliver and Enhance High Quality Efficient Services and Infrastructure]
Report
BACKGROUND
In 2016, Santa Clara County voters approved "Measure B," a 30-year half-cent county-wide sales tax to fund improvements for nine transportation related program categories. The program categories are defined as: BART Silicon Valley Phase II, Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements, County of Santa Clara Expressways, Local Streets and Roads, Transit Operations, Bicycle/Pedestrian, Caltrain Grade Separations, Highway Interchanges and State Route 85 Corridor. The Bicycle/Pedestrian program category includes funding for a Bicycle/Pedestrian Education and Encouragement Program. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority administers these funds and requires each agency in Santa Clara County to execute a funding agreement with the VTA in order to receive the annual Bicycle/Pedestrian Education and Encouragement Program funding from the Measure B sales tax.
Measure B was challenged in court shortly after it was approved, resulting in a more than two-year delay in the distribution of the collected funds to local jurisdictions until the California Supreme Court denied a petition for review in late January 2019. Collection of the half-cent sales tax started in April 2017 and funds were held in escrow with the VTA pending resolution of the legal challenge.
DISCUSSION
Measure B will provide each local jurisdiction within Santa Clara County an annual source of guaranteed funding for Bicycle/Pedestrian Education and Encouragement Program expenditures. This program covers three main categories: 1) activities and the development and distribution of materials that are designed and intended to promote, educate, and/or encourage safe walking or bicycling for residents ...
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