From: "Friends of Transit NEWS" To: Subject: Report to Congress on New Starts Funding Commitments Date: Friday, May 24, 2002 2:25 AM Last week, articles appeared in the Arizona Republic and East Valley Tribune about a recent General Accounting Office (GAO) Report to Congress on New Starts Funding Commitments. The articles incorrectly concluded that the report was somehow a "barrier" or "setback" to the Project receiving expected federal matching funds. We wanted to take a moment and get you the facts on this topic and hopefully answer any questions you may have about it. The New Starts Report is prepared by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) each year as a guide to help Congress evaluate planned rail and other fixed guideway projects for federal funding. It is the FTA's policy only to include projects that have a current funding commitment from the federal government in the form of a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) - or those projects in which a FFGA is currently pending. It does not include funding recommendations for projects, such as ours, that are in the Preliminary Engineering phase. The Preliminary Engineering phase is one of several steps towards getting a FFGA. Projects that are Recommended by FTA, but not identified in the report as recommended for funding at this time, are projects that do not meet FTA's readiness and technical capacity requirements. Typically, projects must be at least halfway through the Final Design process before they meet the FTA's readiness requirement. We anticipate receiving a FFGA in late Fall 2003. The Project has received $34 million to date and expects to receive additional funding in the upcoming appropriations process in the fall. A letter of clarification was sent to both newspapers. Additionally, the GAO and FTA both plan to issue letters of clarification to the papers. If you have any additional questions about any of these topics, or any other relating to the Light Rail project, you can contact Daina Mann, Communications Manager at Valley Connections (602)744-5592. You can also reach them by visiting their website at www.valleyconnections.com