Travis County Commissioners Court
March 31, 2009,
Item 1
1.receive presentation of central Texas regional mobility authority's annual report for fiscal year 2008.
good morning I can't understand economics good morning, judge and Commissioners.
to briefly recap by statute and by desire, I might add, we present the annual report, annually, to the Commissioners courts and there is no vote to be taken today.
it's -- it's a presentation of the annual report and if you have any questions on that report, we are here, my cfo and I are both here to answer any questions.
each year, just briefly, each year we do try and develop a different theme for the end report to communicate to our various constituencies, including both Commissioners courts.
this year we focused on some of the trends in transportation from -- from technology to managed lanes to -- to other types of financing, et cetera, so -- so that was our theme.
bill is here to present the real purpose, which is to say we had no exceptions once again from the external audit, all finances are -- are well and accounted for.
and we had -- we had again a very unqualified audit opinion.
one thing that we did do this year, we had bond participation notes in January that we paid off with tifia loan.
as you know that's a federal program.
we have developed an -- an outstanding relationship with that federal program.
the new administration is actually expanding that particular program and the nice thing is that they actually call us and say what have you got available to -- for us to consider.
and so they are -- they are very excited about working with us in the future.
bill has some -- some accounting items that he would love to share with you if you want to hear them.
>> [laughter] but regarding the depreciation, amortization and calls, derivatives, just kidding.
but thank you, judge, for allowing us to -- to present this to the court.
>> thank you.
>> when do you make -- have you made your report already to Williamson county?
>> no we have not.
>> you have not.
>> so we're the first?
>> yes, sir.
>> okie-doke.
>> as you know, by also -- I'm sure I think that you have an item on the agenda, our chairman will be stepping aside.
>> yeah.
>> he --
>> I'm aware of that.
>> he has been appointed to the brazos river authority to serve as a board member on the b.r.a.
and we look forward to our new chair.
the sooner the better because of issues related to financing, you like that stability, like to know who the chair of the organization is.
>> okay.
bill?
>> okay.
good morning.
i'm going to go through these just a couple of highlights and then if you have got some questions please ask.
one of the important things about tifia that we have is that the tifia loan is flexible, we don't have to pay any interest until after ramp up.
>> for the public explain what that acronym is.
>> okay.
>> please.
>> because folks hear that and they'll say well, you know, I really don't know what that is.
>> transportation innovation financing, infrastructure act.
and it is -- it is a federal highway program that really allowed us to get into the marketplace and in '05 to issue our debt.
so the nice thing about it, it's fairly flexible for start-up agencies, a boone to us.
we did take out the notes, that's in this
>> [indiscernible] as mike said in January of 2008 which was in this fiscal year that we are reporting to.
one of the things that you'll notice as you go through is that -- is that we reported an enterprise fund, which means that we report just like we are a business entity, so you will see depreciation, amortization in here, which is different from governmental types of funds.
so there's a lot of non-cash expenditures that we have to report back and in this year there was -- there was 8.1, $8.2 million worth of non-cash items that are in our financial statements as expense.
a net increase to cash, our transaction count is -- is continuing to increase over the 2008 and '09 time period, even through the March gas presses, decreases and inincreases.
really there's not unusual in our financial statement that I would report to you unless we had some questions.
those are sort of the highlights of our year.
i don't want your eyes glazing over so --
>> this is a public document.
for those who would like a copy, either contact the Commissioners court or the ctrma.
>> I have a quick question.
>> okay.
>> what are the -- from a financial perspective, what are you all looking at in terms of -- of making your current bond indentor more elastic or entering into a subsequent bond indentor to --
>> thank you, bill.
-- in December or November perhaps, that issue was brought up and -- and addressed inadequately for members -- certain folks and -- and we --
>> minority.
>> but -- but we take that seriously.
and -- and my -- my commitment to this board to both Commissioners court as well as the npo is that we are governed by our statute, our statute includes a commitment to rail.
we had a -- on our last agenda, board agenda which passed unanimously, reiterating that particular commitment, glen oppel presented some -- some good, bad, uglies of trying to redo that particular indenture at this time.
we will have those minutes prepared for you in his presentation for anybody who is interested in it.
>> I would like to have that, also, in regard to -- as far as the minutes.
what you guys are going to do as far as the mobility, especially in rail, go ahead, I didn't mean to cut you off.
>> that's okay.
so for all purposes, we will -- we will seek ways proactively to engage rail in the future.
as you may know, we're involved in a study right now, feasibility study of the rail project.
i think that could only enhance the current project underway with capital metro.
we expect to -- to -- as we move forward through this feesibility to collaborate with capital metro on the prospects of this additional rail line.
so we -- we are dedicated to rail.
we think that it's -- it's absolutely a need for the community.
>> this will be the Round Rock project?
>> we call it -- that's probably -- you know what?
i probably would call it that.
it's probably a misnomer.
it's actually georgetown, Round Rock, possibly Pflugerville, northern Travis County over to mcneil, which is -- cuts right through the heart of -- of some very valuable city of Austin e.t.j.
i call it super e.t.j.
because they do have development controls in that area.
so it's a -- it is a regional project cutting across several jurisdictions.
>> we do like to -- would you like to tell us about the evaluation of mario?
>> mario espinosa, I would love to.
the rma, the board in the past has encouraged me and provided for -- from a slot standpoint, from an f.t.e., full-time equivalent, for a second in command that be director.
and through the years I felt like that that was a luxury we could afford not to have.
and now it's getting to the point where we're -- worry in a really active development stage and it was really valuable, so we've put it out on the market, we advertise for a deputy, and at the end of the day the person sitting to my left was clearly the right person for the job from an internal standpoint.
mario will be leaving his duties, has left his duties as a community outreach director of community relations, so -- mario?
>> I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
i'm excited about the opportunity.
obviously it's a challenge, especially with all of the projects that we have ahead of us.
but I am looking forward to making the transition and as my colleague said, I have currently already made the transition, but I think that it's a good opportunity.
i'm looking forward to the -- to working with you even more closer than I have in the past.
>> mario, just real briefly, brought city of Austin experience, which I really need.
i need to have that person that's been on the inside of city hall.
and then the lcra outreach and community director over there.
just the -- just the -- the critical mass of experience that he brought from that standpoint was valuable for the agency.
i can't go anywhere where he doesn't know people.
it's really kind of embarrassing sometimes.
>> good to have you.
>> thank you, judge.
>> see you a year from now.
>> I just have one comment.
i was going to say that usually the things that I kind of look for are that unqualified audit, you know, that agencies receive and so I'm very glad to see y'all get that and it's very important.
so look forward to working with you.
>> we also had a very good review in the state auditor's office, I guess in the past year and it may be more -- more than that, that was a good, excellent exercise.
>> that's reassuring, thank you.
>> that's real good.
and it was mentioned earlier about getting -- having access to the public document as far as this report is concerned.
what -- is there a telephone number of someone who is looking at this, saying I would like to maybe look and see exactly what this report is all about, how would they get in touch with you?
>> at any time they can -- they can call me personally and our bill -- or bill chapman, if we can't answer those questions we love to sit down with people and go through it all.
(512)996-9778.
it's a great number to call.
>> okay.
>> thank you.
>> thank y'all.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 1:42 PM