May 23, 2013                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Hannes Zacharias

County Manager

Johnson County

111 S. Cherry #3300

Olathe, Kansas 66061

Re: K-10 Connector Funding Request

Dear Mr. Zacharias,

As you know, at the end of 2012, Johnson County approached the City of Lawrence regarding assisting with funding the K-10 Connector bus route which connects our community with Johnson County. Our understanding is that Johnson County is expecting a significant shortfall in transit funding and is requesting City of Lawrence participation in funding to maintain the route.            The City of Lawrence has a shared interest with Johnson County in continuing this route.

Staff from the City of Lawrence and Johnson County has met on several occasions to gather information and discuss possible funding formulas for the route.  It appears to us that applying the state funding formula, which is based 50% on ridership and 50% on population would be a good starting point for a formula to apply to the local share of funding for the route.  The figures that we were provided indicate a total local share of $776,882, a significant portion of which represents fully allocated administrative and capital depreciation costs.  I am supportive of recommending to the City Commission that we contribute funding toward sustaining this route and ramp our participation up over the next three years as follows:  $120,000 for 2014, $200,000 in 2015 and $275,000 in 2016.  This would be contingent upon formal City Commission approval during the budget process and also assuming that the City of Lawrence would receive state credit for a proportionate share of the ridership on the K-10 route, based on funding participation.  Additionally, our transit staff has committed to evaluating whether the City of Lawrence could operate the route more cost effectively as part of our upcoming transit management contract discussions and we would know more on this point leading up to the 2015 calendar year.  This can be a topic of discussion during 2014. 

The City of Lawrence, Douglas County and the University of Kansas residents, students and faculty benefit from having the K-10 connector route sustained.  We look forward to our continued discussions on this topic and wish to work cooperatively with Johnson County toward that end.  Please contact me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns and I will advise you of the outcome of our budget process later in the summer.

Sincerely,

David L. Corliss

City Manager

c:         City Commission

            Robert Nugent, Transit Administrator

            Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

            Cynthia Wagner, Assistant City Manager

            Casey Toomay, Budget Manager