California Transportation Commission trains local agencies on RMRA eligibility and CalSMART submittals

Alicia Sequeira, local streets and roads program manager for the California Transportation Commission, led a webinar training on the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account (RMRA) Local Streets and Roads program and the CalSMART (California State Multimodal Application and Reporting Tool) submittal process on the program schedule, eligibility and required documentation.

Sequeira told attendees the commission reviews proposed project lists and expenditure reports for eligibility and completeness but does not select or allocate projects. "We are reviewing for eligibility and completeness. So is this a project that is eligible to use the funds based on statute and our program guidelines?" she said.

The session laid out key dates that jurisdictions must follow to receive RMRA funds: jurisdictions should submit an adopted project list by July 1 for initial eligibility, with a fallback deadline of Sept. 30 for subsequent submittals; the commission adopts initial eligibility lists in August and transmits them to the State Controller by Aug. 31, and annual expenditure reports are due Dec. 1. Sequeira said RMRA payments are formulaic and typically begin arriving in September of the fiscal year, after the State Controller processes receipts.

Why it matters: RMRA (SB 1) funds are distributed monthly by formula. Missing an eligibility submittal window can delay or forfeit apportionments for a jurisdiction for that fiscal year, Sequeira cautioned.

The training emphasized what must appear in a jurisdiction's adopted resolution to establish eligibility: a list of projects intended to use the upcoming fiscal year's RMRA apportionment and, for each project, a project description, location, estimated useful life, and an estimated start and completion schedule. Resolutions must include the adoption date and an authorized official's signature. "If you do not have those four elements for every project that you're submitting in there, it will not be compliant," Sequeira said.

Sequeira demonstrated the CalSMART portal, showing how to register, how to upload a resolution and project list, and how to relist a prior project from the most recent expenditure report. She advised agencies to use the portal's sample resolution and the LSR funding eligibility checklist found in the portal's Help and Resources tab. The system enforces required fields and will not allow submission until required elements are supplied.

On relisting and carryover projects, Sequeira said agencies should relist a previously adopted project in the new fiscal year's submission if they intend to use a substantial portion of the upcoming year's RMRA apportionment on that project. "If it's half or more, you definitely want to relist it because you want your public, your constituents to know where half that pot is intending to go," she said. Projects completed in a prior year should be reported in the expenditure report, not relisted, unless upcoming-year funds will be used.

Sequeira and staff walked attendees through CalSMART specifics: account registration, password lockout behavior, how to import prior expenditure-reported projects into a new proposed list, how to add new projects with phase/component details (preconstruction, construction or procurement/operational needs), and the portal's PDF export feature so agencies can attach the portal-generated project list as an "Attachment A" to a local resolution.

On emergency reimbursements, the trainer said jurisdictions should indicate if a project is eligible for emergency reimbursement; she described typical practice where RMRA may partially fund projects pending reimbursement, and that jurisdictions often retain a portion of RMRA on the project while other costs are reimbursed.

Sequeira urged jurisdictions to coordinate with their finance staff when determining whether a project will consume upcoming-year apportionments or previously accrued balances. She also recommended sending draft resolutions and draft project lists to the commission's LSR inbox for a courtesy compliance review prior to adoption.

Participants asked questions about how to treat multi-year projects, how to decide whether to relist projects, and whether a capital improvement plan can substitute for the required adopted project list; Sequeira reiterated that the resolution must specifically adopt the RMRA project list for the fiscal year and that a CIP alone typically lacks the statutory detail required for eligibility.

The commission posted sample materials in CalSMART and recommended jurisdictions consult the Local Streets and Roads funding eligibility checklist, the program guidelines, and the California Local Government Finance Almanac (third-party estimates) for apportionment estimates. Sequeira told attendees the commission's inbox is the recommended contact point for questions and draft reviews.

Ending: The training closed with staff offering further technical assistance and noting a recording, slides and FAQs would be made available online.