Most urbanized communities in Texas do, but it has become less and less likely they can rely on the state to help fund projects, and more likely they will have to do it themselves.

Thus, what is known in Texas as the Regional Mobility Authority, or RMA, was born on the Texas Senate floor in the summer of 2001 with the passage of Senate Bill 324.

Voters went to the polls on Nov. 6, 2001, to approve it as one of the state’s new constitutional amendments.

Since then, eight RMAs have sprung up in either urban areas, or areas formerly considered rural that are now realizing their urban potential.

What RMAs do

RMAs are often created by the commissioners court in the county where they are based, and that same court can appoint at least two members to serve on the board of directors.

The governor then is responsible for appointing the chairman of that board.

The members cannot be elected officials or TxDOT employees, according to the law.

Though a non-taxing entity, an RMA has the power to finance, design, construct, operate and expand a wide range of transportation facilities and services for the communities served.

Those projects mostly include highways, but can also include ferries, airports and bikeways, which are financed through revenue bonds (meaning the debt would be paid back with funds generated by the roadway), private equity, public grants, government loans and revenue generated from existing transportation facilities.

Although widely discussed after the 2001 election, official RMAs didn’t begin to appear until 2003, when the Central Texas RMA was born in Austin and the Alamo RMA came into existence in San Antonio.

Grayson, Cameron and Hildalgo counties have formed RMAs, while Gregg and Smith counties teamed with five other counties to form the North East Texas RMA in 2004. El Paso County formed the Camino Real RMA.

Last summer, the Sulphur River RMA was formed from the four-county region based in Lamar County and including Delta, Hopkins and Hunt counties.

Chairman Don Wall said the Sulphur River RMA does not have any area that would be considered tollable, but they did have problems they felt were best taken care of through an RMA.

The Sulphur River RMA is concerned with expanding the two-lane Texas 24 that runs northeast between Hunt and Delta counties into a four-lane highway, Wall said.

“We are working on a pass-through financing arrangement on a four-lane divided highway that we are trying to get complete,” Wall said. “Right now, the Texas Department of Transportation has a moratorium on accepting applications on pass-through projects from the RMAs.”

In such an agreement, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth said in a press release, a local government or private company finances and constructs a project on the state highway system. Reimbursement agreements are negotiated between the builder and TxDOT and may not cover the entire cost. Once traffic is flowing, TxDOT periodically reimburses based on the number and types of vehicles using the roadway.

Meanwhile, like the Sulphur River RMA, the Camino Real RMA is not concerning itself with toll roads, said El Paso Assistant City Attorney Raymond Telles, who provides legal assistance to the RMA.

As a border city that neighbors Juarez, Mexico, to the south and the state of New Mexico to the west, Telles said there are opportunities to contract on projects with those neighbors.

“This RMA can contract with the city of Juarez, and the state of Chihuahua,” Telles said. “This allows us the possibility of creating an international bridge.”

The Camino Real RMA is not only unusual because of the border, but because it was not created by a commissioners court vote. A city council vote in 2007, shortly after the passage of Senate Bill 792, made it possible.

What RMAs do

RMAs are often created by the commissioners court in the county where they are based, and that same court can appoint at least two members to serve on the board of directors.

The governor then is responsible for appointing the chairman of that board.

The members cannot be elected officials or TxDOT employees, according to the law.

Though a non-taxing entity, an RMA has the power to finance, design, construct, operate and expand a wide range of transportation facilities and services for the communities served.

Those projects mostly include highways, but can also include ferries, airports and bikeways, which are financed through revenue bonds (meaning the debt would be paid back with funds generated by the roadway), private equity, public grants, government loans and revenue generated from existing transportation facilities.

While some of the RMAs are still working to gain solid footing, others have seen a payoff.

The Central Texas RMA in Austin is collecting toll revenue from Texas 45, Loop 1 and in some cases Texas 130.

With toll projects on Loop 1604 and U.S. 281, the Alamo RMA isn’t collecting any revenue yet, but it may not be long before it does.

Leroy Alloway, community relations director for the Alamo RMA, said San Antonio’s RMA has been able to streamline projects that would have otherwise taken 20 years if they’d had to wait for TxDOT.

However, Alloway said the RMA has seen its share of challenges.

“Some of the biggest challenges to projects is identifying, first of all, how you are going to fund the operations of the authority and what projects you’re going to take on,” Alloway said. “If you do not have funding through your municipalities or your counties, or if you don’t receive funding from the state, you are forced to be rather creative because you do not have taxing authority.”

When the Alamo RMA was created, it received loans from the city of San Antonio and Bexar County that roughly amounted to $1.2 million that will have to be repaid when the authority is able to sell revenue bonds for the projects they have earmarked.

They’ve also received $7.5 million from TxDOT to conduct environmental impact studies, Alloway said.

The Alamo RMA is still working on the funding of those projects, and is battling one lawsuit after another, some concerned with environmental impact.

Despite the difficulties, Alloway said Alamo RMA is hopeful that they will begin to see more progress toward their transportation goals.

“We’ve spent four years doing a lot of studies and a lot of detailed work and we are hopeful that by the end of the summer, we’ll be in the bond market and be able to start construction on our first toll project,” Alloway said.

bkirk@temple-telegram.com