CITY OF TALLAHASSEE
CITY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED ON: May 27, 2009
SUBJECT/TITLE: Discussion of the FY 2009-14 Tallahassee Community College Service Agreement
TARGET ISSUE: N/A

STATEMENT OF ISSUE

Staff requests approval to execute a two-year agreement with Tallahassee Community College (TCC) to provide transit services to enrolled students under a program entitled “C-Pass.” This agreement provides supplemental funding to the City’s transit system in an estimated amount of $137,919 each year. This is an increase of 4% above the revenue received in FY2008 ($132,398), approved on January 23, 2008. In order to participate in the C-Pass program, TCC students pay $0.50 per credit hour. Since participation in the program is based on student enrollment, the supplemental funding is estimated to remain the same for each of the agreements. StarMetro staff will meet with TCC staff annually to review the terms of the agreement.

RECOMMENDED ACTION

Option 1 - Approve and authorize the City Manager or her designee to execute the TCC “C-Pass” Agreement.

FISCAL IMPACT

This agreement provides an estimated $137,919 annually for FY 2009 – 2014, which subsidizes the route and reimburses C-Pass Program usage. StarMetro staff will meet with TCC staff each spring to revise the estimated funding in accordance with the previous year’s ridership reports. The Office of Budget and Policy has reviewed this item, and it is in compliance with City guidelines.

Ronald L. Garrison, Executive Director, StarMetro

Anita Favors Thompson, City Manager

For Information, please contact: Brian Waterman, Transit Planning Administrator at 891-5564.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL/ISSUE ANALYSIS
HISTORY/FACTS & ISSUES

Students are an important part of this community’s human infrastructure. As with previous years, the City has developed an agreement to provide services on the city-wide transit system to TCC students for the campus area. This is formally known as the “C-Pass” agreement. This year the City has negotiated a five-year agreement with TCC to continue providing service to enrolled students. Under the C-Pass program, TCC will collect and transfer $0.50 for each student class credit hour for each semester. This approach reimburses the City for all C-Pass program usage. This agreement provides significant subsidy to the City’s transit budget relative to student usage. Additionally, increasing student use of the transit system and reducing dependency on private automobiles has the additional benefit of mitigating traffic congestion around TCC’s campus and helps reduce the community’s carbon footprint.

Summary of Annual Revenue and Ridership for TCC Agreement

*Projected Ridership and Revenue for the remainder of the year.

Charitable Contributions
This does not apply, as this is an agreement between Tallahassee Community College and the City of Tallahassee.

OPTIONS

1. Approve and authorize the City Manager to execute the TCC “C-Pass” Agreement.

Pros: Provides an estimated $137,919 to subsidize routes serving Tennessee Street, Appleyard Drive, and Jackson Bluff Road.

Encourages TCC Students to use transit, which decreases traffic congestion, parking demands, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Cons: Proposed agreement does not provide incentives for TCC Faculty and Staff to utilize StarMetro.

2. Do not approve and provide guidance to staff.

Pros: Staff may have an opportunity to renegotiate the agreement to include faculty and staff.

Cons: Insufficient time may exist to renegotiate since the current agreement ends on June 30, 2009.

ATTACHMENTS/REFERENCES

FY 2009-14 Tallahassee Community College C-Pass Agreement