Austin Transit Partnership approves FY26 budget, investment policy and interlocal agreements; adopts audit plan and charter amendments

The Austin Transit Partnership board on Sept. 17 unanimously approved its fiscal year 2026 budget and investment policy, authorized interlocal agreements with the City of Austin and CapMetro for real-estate acquisition and capital funding, extended an existing MetroRapid interlocal agreement through Sept. 30, 2026, and adopted the internal audit plan and amendments to the audit charter.

Board adoption of the FY26 budget and related interlocal agreements funds continued work on the Austin Light Rail program and several companion projects. Brian Rivera, chief financial officer, told the board staff recommended a change to appropriations tied to the CapMetro project fund after additional costs for CapMetro-led components were identified during August negotiations. The change raises certain appropriations from $99,000,000 as proposed in July to $105,000,000 across capital funds, Rivera said. He also said ATP expects approximately $185,000,000 in Proposition A revenue for the coming fiscal year and presented a FY26 spend plan that includes about $77,000,000 for professional services and an overall capital spend plan figure presented as $118,000,000.

Rivera described major FY26 milestones as onboarding progressive design-build contractors and advancing final design for light-rail Phase 1 to enter the Federal Transit Administration’s risk-assessment phase. The board approved the budget and related items by voice vote with no recorded dissents.

The board also considered the annual investment policy, which Rivera said is structured around the state Public Funds Investment Act. He told the board there were no material statutory changes this legislative session and the only edits in the draft were administrative job-title updates for members of ATP’s investment committee. The board adopted the investment policy unanimously.

Two interlocal agreements were approved. One authorizes negotiation and execution of an interlocal agreement with the City of Austin to define respective duties and responsibilities for acquiring real estate in support of Austin Light Rail. The second authorizes negotiation and execution of an interlocal agreement with CapMetro to provide capital funding for CapMetro program components. Both items passed unanimously. The board separately approved an amendment to the interlocal with Capital Metro (MetroRapid) to extend the agreement’s term through Sept. 30, 2026; board members discussed permitting lessons learned and expressed a desire to improve future coordination before voting to extend.

Internal audit staff presented two reviews and obtained board approval of the audit plan and charter amendments. Katie Houston, chief audit executive, summarized a review of user roles in key systems (primarily Oracle) and said auditors found appropriate segregation of duties overall but recommended a regular review of user access, a formal temporary-access process to ensure access is revoked after short-term assignments, and a two-person review for vendor changes. Cameron Legron, senior internal auditor, summarized a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) goals audit and said ATP has established program documents, performed an availability study and produced a goal calculator for contracts. Legron reported ATP’s spending records since October 2022 show about 17% of ATP dollars went to local suppliers and recommended procurement develop a regular methodology and reporting cadence; procurement agreed to report by January.

All remaining action items on the agenda, including approval of July 30 meeting minutes, adoption of the FY26 investment policy, the audit plan and internal audit charter amendments, passed unanimously by voice vote. The board chair thanked staff and partners and closed the meeting.

Less-critical items discussed but not contested included ongoing community and industry engagement, ATP’s quarterly Project Connect status report and the formation of an Austin Light Rail Advisory Group that board members said will provide local input on outreach and communications.