Executive director says WIFIA draws pending as milestone payments accelerate; committee hears expenses and program payment numbers

Jason Benson, executive director for the Metro Flood Diversion Authority, told the finance committee on July 23 that the authority recorded roughly $11,000,000 in revenue for the month and just over $100,000,000 year-to-date against an overall program budget of $425,000,000. Benson said operating expenses through the period are about $64,000,000 and that the authority has not yet begun WIFIA loan draws that were anticipated to fund P3 milestone payments. "We will probably be submitting our first WIFIA loan draw in Q3 of this year," Benson said. Benson also noted a discrepancy in milestone payments versus planned disbursements: the program total budget is $867,000,000, and staff reported that $1,819,000,000 has been paid to date. When asked by Commissioner Steen what the disbursements would have been if schedule-aligned, staff replied that it would have been about $230,000,000 that week. Commissioner Steen raised the point during questions about milestone payments and schedule. Counsel and staff also said that, now that the Statement of Principles has been executed, the project expects an acceleration in milestone payments and that staff are working on the WIFIA loan draw process. No formal action was taken; Benson closed his informational report when committee members had no further questions. This report was provided for information only; the committee did not vote on the cash budget report at this meeting.