County cautions transit partners may not replace one‑time transportation inflows; liability for grants rests with county

Tompkins County budget and transit officials told the Budget, Capital and Personnel Committee on Aug. 14 that part of the 2024 revenue picture was driven by previously unclaimed or late transportation grant reimbursements that a new TCAT leadership team helped document and claim.

Budget Director Nasir Corso and county finance staff said those inflows were significant in 2024 and cautioned legislators not to assume similar reimbursement levels in 2026. Finance and administration staff noted that some transportation grants are multiyear and that the county does not necessarily expect identical timing or amounts from year to year.

County staff emphasized a legal and fiscal point repeated in the meeting: federal and state transit funds are paid to the county, which then contracts with TCAT (Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit) and other partners. As Daryl (Director of Finance) explained, because the funds are issued to the county, the county remains the recipient and is liable for those assets. Committee members said the transit partnership agreement allocates operating shortfalls among the three partners, which should, in principle, divide an operating shortfall rather than shift it entirely to the county; Deborah Dawson urged that preemptive investment on the county side may avert larger later expenses.

Committee members scheduled a TCAT annual budget presentation for Sept. 16 at 10 a.m. and discussed monitoring TCAT's documentation and reimbursement processes. Legislators expressed concern that if state programs such as STOA (state transportation assistance) stop holding counties "harmless," the partners will need to cover the resulting shortfalls; several legislators asked that the county continue its oversight role given the county's legal responsibility for those state and federal funds.