Portland, Maine - Last night, the Finance Committee began its discussion of the City Manager’s recommended Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for the next fiscal year as well as the latest draft of the city’s proposed five-year plan. CIP is a financing and construction and acquisition plan for city and school projects that require significant capital investment. Per the City Charter, last year the City Council adopted a five-year CIP plan that incorporated an asset inventory, long term needs assessment and utilized a scoring system ranking proposed projects in order of legal and public priorities. Additionally last fall, the City Manager sought public input on future projects and this feedback was incorporated in the proposal. The Finance Committee will discuss and gather public input on the City Manager’s recommended Five Year Capital Improvement Plan and more specifically, the FY14 CIP over the next few months, (the Finance Committee is scheduled to meet next on February 14th). Following the committee process, which is expected to conclude with its own recommendations by May, in conjunction with the city’s operating budget for FY13, the CIP proposal will be sent to the City Council for consideration and adoption.
“The decisions we make today on what, where and how much to invest will have an impact on the community for years to come,” stated City Manager Mark Rees. “That is why it is so important to not only look at current year projects, but also to project into the future. I believe this proposal provides us with the capabilities of doing that necessary forward thinking.”
The FY14 CIP proposes funding for seventy General Fund projects totaling approximately $26 Million including Federal, State, and grant leveraged funding. The proposal includes preliminary estimates of the school’s Buildings for Our Future Elementary School program which will be considered by public in a referendum this fall after the completion of a facilities master planning process, which is expected to be done by June of this year. The FY14 CIP also includes funding for improvements to school information technology, street and sidewalk improvements consistent with the city’s pavement management plan, many of which are eligible for grants from the Federal Highway program, the purchase of replacement police vehicles and a Medcu Ambulance, turf and track replacement at Fitzpatrick Stadium, maintenance to municipal and school buildings throughout the city and sewer fund projects designed to improve water quality within the Casco Bay and the city’s streams, rivers and ponds as mandated by the Federal Clean Water Act.
The development of the five-year CIP reflects Government Financial Officer Association (GFOA) best practices for multi‐year capital planning and asset assessment, maintenance, and replacement. Capital improvements projects consist of purchasing, constructing or renovating structures, acquiring land and purchasing major equipment or vehicles that have a total cost of more than $10,000. Common CIP projects include replacement vehicles, new or improved sidewalks, roads, neighborhood renewal projects and new city or school facilities.
For more information about the CIP budget and information about projects to be funded by the FY14 CIP, visit http://www.portlandmaine.gov/finance.html.
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