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Staff Working Group Special Meeting

Orange County · OCPT Staff Working Group
Friday, January 9, 2026

Special or emergency meeting Budget and appropriationsTransit

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What's on this agenda

The Orange County Staff Working Group reviews the FY27 Annual Work Program. The plan would fund transit operations, planning and capital projects at Orange County, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, GoTriangle and the Triangle West Transportation Planning Organization. It totals $19.2 million, split $10.8 million operating and $8.4 million capital, with revenues matching expenditures and no projected surplus or deficit as filed.

The group also weighs whether to release the constrained work program for public comment before or after it is finalized. It also reviews FY26 solvency against the FY27 funding requests.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The group decided to hold the 2027 transit work program back until it is constrained to the money actually available, rather than put a draft out for public comment first. Caroline Dwyer and Margaret Scully argued for waiting; Sarah Williamson pointed out the 2026 global agreements are still outstanding, which makes Orange County reluctant to commit money, though Chapel Hill Transit's are signed.

The deficit was traced to the multi-year plan. Steven Schlossberg of tax district administration told the group about $12.5 million of operating cost has been added through 2035, along with about $3.2 million of capital, and that the plan has to stay in the black all the way to 2040, so the 2027 year cannot be read on its own. Christina Moon suggested pushing projects with looser timelines back to ease the 2027 gap. Members also asked for a clearer line between projects already adopted in the long-range vision plan and new requests for it.

On solvency, Schlossberg confirmed $2.5 million of liquidity for 2026, which Moon said clears the way for a Carrboro budget transfer request to proceed as a revenue-neutral change. The group set a run of deadlines: corrected work program out by January 16, written questions to project sponsors by January 23, responses to project sheets by January 30. Thirteen of the twenty members attended.

How the votes went

Two votes. A motion by Chair Josh Mayo, seconded by Margaret Scully, to allow adjustments to the agenda on the FY27 work plan materials passed 9-1; the approved minutes do not name the member who voted no. Adjournment, moved by Mayo and seconded by Scully, was unanimous.

From the published minutes.

Who spoke

No members of the public spoke.

No public comment received.

Read from the records the government published after the meeting. Members of the public are private residents and are not named or indexed.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (3)

Discussion item · 3
  1. 1 FY27 Annual Work Program
    Discussion item Budget and appropriationsTransit
    The multi-year plan must stay in positive balance through 2040, so FY27 has to be judged in that context. About $12.5 million in operating costs and $3.2 million in capital costs have been added to the plan through 2035, which explains the deficit. Members disagreed on whether public engagement material should show already-modeled projects or new requests, and one suggested deferring projects with looser timelines to help close the gap.
    Vote taken on the timeline for releasing the finalised plan
  2. 2 Releasing constrained FY27 Work Program before or after public comment
    Discussion item Budget and appropriationsTransit
    Whether to put the work program out for public comment before or after constraining it to available funding. Members favored releasing it only once finalized, to keep it consistent with what the money supports. Orange County is hesitant to commit financially while FY26 global agreements are outstanding; Chapel Hill Transit's are executed. The tax district said it needs at least a week to validate the financial model.
    Hold the work program until finalised, then release for public comment
  3. 3 FY26 solvency and FY27 requests
    Discussion item Budget and appropriationsTransit
    Discussion of the FY26 amendments and the cost-per-hour calculation. The tax district confirmed $2.5 million in liquidity for FY26, on the strength of which a Carrboro budget transfer request will proceed as a revenue-neutral information item.

Agenda changes

What moved between published versions of this agenda. Item numbers shift constantly as things are inserted, so only genuine additions and removals are listed.

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