The Council of San Benito County Governments (COG) adopted a $10 million budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year at its Aug. 20 meeting. The regional transportation agency is responsible for several programs including overseeing Measure G, rideshare and vanpool programs.
The budget increased about $900,000 over last year. According to the meeting agenda packet, the increase is attributed to Transportation Development Act transfer; a payout to a retiring employee; additional funding of planning, programming and monitoring state grant funding for multimodal enhancement study on Highway 156; and an increase in salaries due to Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) and annual step increases.
Measure G funds account for $5.7 million of the budget, of which all but $56,000 is marked for payments to projects and programs. According to the budget, revenues for Measure G are $12.1 million as of June. The fund includes $5 million that COG received when voters approved the ballot measure in the November 2018 general election.
In addition to Measure G, the budget is separated into the following accounts:
- Local Transportation Fund ($2.3 million)
- State Transit Assistance ($517,000)
- Low Carbon Transit Operations Program ($145,000)
- Rideshare Program ($3,000)
- Council of Government Administration ($438,000)
- Vanpool Programs ($14,000)
- Highway 25 Safety Program ($209,000)
- Transportation Planning State Subvention ($1.1 million)
At the meeting, the COG Board of Directors—made up of two representatives from the San Benito County Board of Supervisors, two from the Hollister City Council and one from the San Juan Bautista City Council—also received a draft report on unmet transit needs.
Transportation planner Veronica Lezama said COG conducts at least one unmet transit need hearing a year, during which the public can comment on the local bus services provided by County Express. This year, that effort included a hearing, three public meetings and onboard bus solicitations.
Staff reviewed and analyzed 29 comments COG received from the public. After determining which comments qualified as unmet needs, staff separated them into two categories: reasonable to meet and not reasonable to meet. Those that are categorized as reasonable to meet are submitted to the Local Transportation Authority to implement in the next fiscal cycle.
But because of COVID-19, Lezama said staff in consultation with Caltrans asked the directors to find all 10 unmet needs not reasonable to meet and consider them again in the 2021-22 cycle.
“Any funds that would have been available for implementation of transit needs will be reserved for the 2021-22 fiscal year with no penalty from Caltrans,” the agenda packet states.
COG Director Jaime De La Cruz, also chair of the Board of Supervisors, asked if there were conversations regarding the new dialysis center set to open in a few months and how that group of residents will be serviced.
Lezama said COG provides residents with services that transport them to existing dialysis centers in Morgan Hill and Gilroy. She added COG will be coordinating with the new dialysis center to provide transportation.
“You are going to have a huge transfer from the Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Salinas centers to the Hollister center, and we are looking at about 150 to 200 transferees coming to the local Hollister Dialysis,” De La Cruz said.
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