ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA. County Board Agenda Item Meeting of September 20, 2014

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1 ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA County Board Agenda Item Meeting of September 20, 2014 DATE: September 9, 2014 SUBJECT: Revised Virginia Railway Express ("VRE") Master Agreement. C. M. RECOMMENDATION: Authorize the Chair of the County Board to sign the amended VRE Master Agreement ISSUES: This is a request for the County Board to approve the proposed amendments to the VRE Master Agreement and the County Board Chair to sign the agreement. SUMMARY: The Northern Virginia Transportation District Commission (NVTC) and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation District Commission (PRTC), the Commissions, jointly own and operate VRE. The Master Agreement for the Provision of Commuter Rail Services in Northern Virginia (Master Agreement) is the foundation document for the VRE service, and includes as parties NVTC, PRTC, Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, Spotsylvania, and Stafford counties, and the cities of Alexandria, Manassas, Manassas Park, and Fredericksburg. There is only one train stop in Arlington, located in Crystal City. The VRE Master Agreement must be amended to incorporate the weighted voting requirement as set forth in HB2152 which will become effective on July 1, HB2152 amends and reenacts and of the Code of Virginia as it relates to quorums and voting on the commissions and weighted voting on the Operations Board. Only the changes to required changes to the Master Agreement. Under the current Master Agreement the Commonwealth of Virginia (Commonwealth) has a vote on the VRE Operations Board but, since it is not part of the ridership based funding formula, does not have a weight assigned to its vote. The relative voting weights are based on a member s annual subsidy under the funding formula, and weighted voting rarely is used on the VRE Operations Board. The proposed changes to the Master Agreement provide the Commonwealth with a weighted vote on the Operations Board equal to the jurisdiction paying the highest annual subsidy to VRE. The VRE Operations Board has recommended that the Commissions transmit the Master Agreement amendment to all Participating and Contributing Jurisdictions for their approval and County Manager: ##### County Attorney: ***** 46. Staff: Jason Friess, Department of Management and Finance

2 execution; thereafter it will need to be approved and executed by the Commissions. Participating Jurisdictions, fund VRE operating and capital costs based on a ridership formula and their proportional share. Contributing Jurisdictions, including Arlington, fund VRE at a fixed rate, adjusted annually since 2012 based on the same proportional increase or decrease in subsidy as the Participating Jurisdictions. Prior to the change in 2012, Contributing Jurisdictions subsidies increased at 5% annually. The proposed amended Master Agreement is attached, and the specific legislative changes are summarized below. As amended, , subsection C states: "The agreement governing the creation of the railway shall provide that the Chairman of the Commonwealth Transportation Board or his designee shall have one vote on the oversight board for the railway. For each year in which the state contribution to the railway is greater than or equal to the highest contribution from an individual jurisdiction, the total annual jurisdictional subsidy used to determine vote weights shall be recalculated to include the Commonwealth contributing an amount equal to the highest contributing jurisdiction. The vote weights shall be recalculated to provide the Chairman of the Commonwealth Transportation Board or his designee the same weight as the highest contributing jurisdiction. The revised vote weights shall be used in determining the passage of motions before the oversight board." As amended, provides in pertinent part: "... the presence of a quorum and a vote of the majority of the members necessary to constitute a quorum of all the members appointed to the commission, including an affirmative vote from a majority of the members, shall be necessary to take any action. The Chairman of the Commonwealth Transportation Board or his designee shall have voting rights equal to appointees of component governments on all matters brought before the commission." Both NVTC and PRTC authorized the distribution of the amended Master Agreement for execution by local jurisdictions in July, For Arlington, authorization is requested for the Chair of the County Board to sign the Master Agreement. Upon execution by all VRE Participating and Contributing jurisdictions, NVTC and PRTC will be asked to approve and execute the amended Master Agreement. BACKGROUND: The Virginia Railway Express ( VRE ) is a joint venture of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission ( NVTC ) and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission ( PRTC ). Pursuant to a Master Agreement signed in 1989, NVTC and PRTC ( the Commissions ) jointly own and operate VRE. VRE provides commuter rail service on two railroad lines originating in Fredericksburg and Manassas, Virginia and terminating at Union Station, Washington, D.C. The service uses existing tracks of the CSX Transportation Corporation ( CSX ), Amtrak, and the Norfolk Southern Railway Company, - 2 -

3 under respective operating access agreements. Trains are operated and maintained pursuant to a contract between Keolis Rail Services Virginia, LLC and the Commissions. VRE is governed jointly by the Commissions, which have established under the Master Agreement a joint subcommittee called the Operations Board, consisting of members from each of the Participating and Contributing jurisdictions, and a representative of the Secretary of Transportation. In addition to fares, the project is financed with proceeds from the Commuter Rail Revenue Bonds, Federal and Commonwealth of Virginia grants and Participating Jurisdiction appropriations based on a ridership formula that are supplemented by an annually adjusted fixed appropriation from Contributing Jurisdictions. Grants and contributions fund both operations and capital projects. Participating Jurisdictions include the counties of Fairfax, Prince William, Spotsylvania, and Stafford; and the cities of Manassas, Manassas Park and Fredericksburg, Virginia. Contributing jurisdictions include Arlington County and the City of Alexandria, Virginia. DISCUSSION: Since inception, Arlington County has subsidized VRE s operating expenses; no subsidy has been provided for the capital investment. In the current Master Agreement, the County s annual contributions increase / decrease each year by the same percentage of change as the total subsidy allocated among the Participating Jurisdictions. All County contributions are funded with state grants managed by NVTC. FISCAL IMPACT: No fiscal impact - 3 -

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