Revisions to Capital Metro's service expansion policy will allow nonmember cities to receive funding for transit services, including those outlined in the Project Connect regional plan.

During the agency's April 23 meeting, board members approved adding a range of options for nonmember jurisdictions—cities that do not contribute a 1 percent sales tax to Capital Metro for service—to create an agreement or contract for transit services with Capital Metro, which is one of the agencies spearheading Project Connect.

The primary reason for updating the policy is because of changes to the Austin urbanized area, or UZA, in the 2010 Census that added Georgetown and other parts of Central Texas cities not included in the 2000 UZA, Regional Coordination Planner Michelle Meaux said. The designation affects how cities receive federal funding for transit services.

"Some of the other cities are in our UZA," President and CEO Linda Watson said. "Their population counts in the formula that gives us federal formula funds. As result of their population, we're getting money. That's why this money is being made available to them if they're able to use it."

Cities will have five different options for a contract or agreement that will also allow them to access their allotment of Section 5307 funding from the Federal Transit Administration.

The first option is joining Capital Metro's service area, which requires dedicating 1 percent of its sales tax to the agency. This option is not likely because most cities already have their sales taxes dedicated, said Todd Hemingson, vice president of planning and development.

Cities could also enter into a contract for services with Capital Metro and would pay for their services or create a local government corporation and invite other cities to join and pool resources.

The fourth and fifth options are either becoming an FTA sub-recipient or direct recipient for federal funding. By being a direct recipient, the jurisdiction would be responsible for all FTA compliance issues while Capital Metro would assume that role if a jurisdiction became a sub-recipient.

Capital Metro already has contracts for service with the city of Georgetown for demand-response transit service with the Capital Area Rural Transportation System. Georgetown lost this service after being included in Austin's UZA in 2012. Austin Community College also has a contract for service to its Cypress Creek campus in Cedar Park.

Capital Metro is the area's FTA direct recipient of federal funds. This year about $28 million came in for the current fiscal year, and about $1.4 million is left available for nonmember cities.

Meaux said Capital Metro staff will review the amount of available federal funding every year for outside jurisdictions and issue a call for projects. Cities will either create a three-year transit development plan for new projects or update the TDP yearly for continued projects.

"The TDP must also contain performance measures so that we can track how well the service they're providing is doing," she said.