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Q&A
Council member questions DOT officials on federal funding and grant applications
0:27:24
·
4 min
Council Member Justin Brannan inquires about DOT's federal funding sources and potential impacts of federal budget cuts. DOT officials explain their main funding sources, ongoing grant applications, and reassure that no federal funds have been rescinded yet.
- DOT receives most federal funding from US DOT, FTA, and FHWA
- About 7-10 grant applications are pending, totaling approximately $30 million
- DOT is preparing contingency plans but has not received notice of any federal funding stoppage
Justin Brannan
0:27:24
Thank you for your testimony, commissioner.
0:27:26
We've also been joined by council members Narcisse, Williams, and Ressler.
0:27:30
I wanna talk about federal funding Just to set the table, on January twenty seventh of this year, the Trump administration issued a directive to pause federal loan and grant spending.
0:27:43
The directive was quickly rescinded two days later, but an executive order issued by the president to review funding remains in effect.
0:27:52
The level of federal funding that the city and DOT will receive remains a serious area of concern.
0:27:59
The executive plan includes $135,300,000 of federal funding for DOT in FY '25, which is about 8.8% of DOT's budget, and $78,800,000 for FY '26, which is about 5.2%.
0:28:14
So could you tell us what are the what are DOT's main sources of federal funding?
0:29:53
Is there a contingency plan for has the administration given any orders for a contingency plan to prepare for a potential budget shortfall?
0:30:38
Are there any federal grants that DOT has applied for that you're waiting to hear back on?
0:30:55
And is that cause for concern?
0:30:57
Do you typically have heard back by now?
0:31:30
And the 10 grants that you mentioned, what's the total?
Ydanis Rodriguez
0:28:21
I'm gonna start and then Paul will take it.
0:28:26
When I was the chairman of this committee of transportation, and I, you know, especially my first year, when I had the boy in front of me, I say why we have these numbers?
0:28:35
And then by October, the numbers increased.
0:28:39
And got a lot in the intern, Shima and the whole team, they educate me to understand that, you know, it is by the end of this year that we get to know how much federal funding and other sources is coming to this agency.
0:28:51
So I can say that the agency has a great team of financing grants.
0:28:55
We go after every single dollars.
0:28:57
We continue planning.
0:28:59
It it it we're no difference.
0:29:02
And we have been planning in the last couple of years because we had not received any notice from DC that any federal funding being stopped.
0:29:10
So that's why we are focusing on Mayor Warren say always keep keep always being laser focused.
0:29:17
So we are not right now being distracted by any noise or phone that may come from DC because we have not received any notice or any federal funding being stopped.
Paul Ochoa
0:29:28
Thanks, chair, for that question.
0:29:30
Most of our federal funding comes from US DOT, FDA funding, and FHWA funding.
0:29:37
So the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Highway Administration.
0:29:41
Most of the funding is programmed into our budget, what we call formula funds, which means it's a lump sum amount that flows through the state that comes to us.
0:29:50
We program a lot of it in the ferries budget for example.
0:30:04
Yeah.
0:30:05
Listen, we're always talking to OMB and City Hall about these things.
0:30:07
We sincerely hope that the federal administration does not rescind any funds that are used for critical operations, but we are in conversations with them to make sure that one, we know exactly where the federal funding is coming from and then you know plan accordingly.
0:30:23
At this point as the commissioner mentioned, no federal funds have been rescinded.
0:30:28
It's certainly not formula funds.
0:30:30
I think there was a lot of competitive grants from the last administration that we're working through, but at this point nothing has been cancelled or rescinded.
0:30:44
Yes.
0:30:45
We have about 10 I believe, seven, around seven that we applied late last administration that we have not heard back.
0:30:59
Listen, it's hard to say what typically is in this federal administration.
0:31:03
But I would what I would say is most of our competitive grants were implementation grants, which means we are applying for capital project that we already have programmed in the budget.
0:31:14
That is all to say that most of those projects are fully funded with city tax dollars.
0:31:20
So any award would be displacing city tax dollars.
0:31:23
So it wouldn't necessarily stop a program.
0:31:27
We're full steam ahead with our capital plan.
0:31:35
I believe about 30.
0:31:38
Okay.
0:31:39
I can get back to you