Nearly three years after the Florida Department of Transportation was supposed to give SunRail to local governments, the change of ownership is coming — albeit more slowly than what many had thought.

The transfer of SunRail’s ownership is a topic for discussion at the Thursday, Nov. 16, meeting of the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission in Orlando.

The last segment of the original commuter-rail project, including a new depot west of DeLand, is to be finished next summer, and the FDOT plans to give the 61-mile transit system to the five local governments — including Volusia County — it serves. How soon the actual handoff occurs is yet to be determined. The FDOT could transfer SunRail to the locals as early as next year, following the end of the construction of the DeBary-to-DeLand segment. The local funding partners in the SunRail system say they want a gradual change, rather than a quick one.

“The Department [of Transportation] is going to ask the county managers and the city manager of Orlando to take over,” Volusia County Manager George Recktenwald told the County Council Nov. 7. 

“After that, the managers will bring back proposals to the five partners,” he added. 

One proposal is a three-year phased transition of ownership from the FDOT to the local funding partners. A draft report on the transition sets Aug. 15, 2024, as the date for the FDOT to give SunRail to the locals.

Volusia County Chair Jeff Brower would like a longer phase-in period.

“I would like seven years. We’re not going to get seven years,” he said.

SunRail’s annual operating expenses far exceed the revenues. For the state’s 2022-23 fiscal year that ended June 30, SunRail’s costs amounted to $76.1 million, while its revenues totaled about $40.8 million. The result was a deficit of about $35.3 million. That shortfall would have been greater, had there not been a $13 million federal infusion under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

The ARPA was a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill passed by the Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in early 2021. The ARPA funding was widely disbursed among state and local governments, as well as individual taxpayers. That multimillion-dollar largesse, however, will not be repeated annually.

In any case, the local governments stand to become responsible for covering SunRail’s deficits.

“There’s not a lot of good positive steps when it comes to the cost of SunRail,” Brower said.

Yet, the locals do not appear prepared to assume the new responsibility. The local partners — Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties and the City of Orlando — have formed an agency, the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission (CFCRC) to own and operate SunRail. Brower represents Volusia on that agency, which meets periodically to hear reports on matters affecting SunRail, including its current budget, ridership, and possible future expansion.

Are the locals ready to take on SunRail? Or will they be ready whenever the FDOT relinquishes its role as owner and “deep pockets” of SunRail?

“There’s not even a bank account to the CFCRC to take over,” Recktenwald said.

“The department’s position is that there is going to be a train on that track this summer,” he added, referring to 2024.

As for the future operation of SunRail, the CFCRC has indicated that Lynx, the transit system serving the Greater Orlando area of Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, will actually run the trains daily.

The County Council unanimously agreed to support Brower’s request for a longer phase-in of SunRail from state to local ownership.

“I’m pretty concerned about this, and the department doesn’t want this to fail,” Council Member Jake Johansson said. “FDOT has a vested interest in it. … I strongly encourage the chairman to negotiate the best deal.”

“I think we have been good partners,” Brower said. “We’re trying to protect taxpayers.”

As well as absorbing part of SunRail’s annual operating deficits, Volusia County must also begin repaying its share of the capital debt for bringing SunRail to DeLand. The cost of laying additional tracks between DeBary and DeLand, making at-grade crossings with roadways, installing lights and signals at road crossings, and building the DeLand SunRail station, totaled about $43 million. Volusia County must begin repaying one-fourth of that, or about $11.8 million over the life of the loan from the State Infrastructure Bank.