There are numerous benefits associated with adopting a Capital Improvement Program, including:
- Highlights the City’s needs and stimulates action to address those needs.
- Focuses on preserving infrastructure while ensuring efficient use of public funds.
- Systematic and comparative evaluation of multiple potential projects at the same time.
- Allows the City to stabilize debt and consolidate projects to reduce borrowing costs, if financing is needed.
- Serves as a public relations and economic development tool.
- Promotes coordination of projects across City departments, allows integration with other governmental agencies, and helps identify efforts that may qualify for grant funding
- Helps City forecast and coordinate long-term needs
- Allows effective time to plan for large projects
- Allows the City to comply with state mandates
The CIP allows the City to identify and implement Council priorities to meet their strategic goals and enhance livabiliy. It also ensures upgrades, repairs, and replacement of aging infrastructure that citizens every day-like streets, sidewalks, community centers, parks and more!
We gather input from a variety of sources, including:
- Citizen Advisory Committees
- City Council forums and hearings
- Public input
Each project proposal is reviewed from a variety of approaches before it is included in the CIP. Projects included in the CIP are identified by department staff based upon:
- Input from the community received during the year;
- Input from the Council on needs that develop or are identified during the year; and
- Staff-identified projects based on critical needs, including those due to safety issues or to comply with new mandates.
All CIP projects are reviewed first by the appropriate operating departments/programs. Projects are prioritized and presented for funding based upon the level of funding estimated to be available for the coming fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years.
Under the direction of the City Manager, the Public Works Department and the Department of Finance review the proposed projects and prepare the CIP for submittal to the Council. The proposed CIP is then presented, discussed, and acted upon by the City Council in public sessions during the budget hearings. Members of the community can comment on the proposed CIP and provide input to the Council during the hearing process. The Council can provide staff with changes to the proposed CIP and then adopt the final CIP and Operating Budget in June.
A Capital Improvement Program (CIP) is a long-range plan that:
- Identifies capital projects and equipment purchases
- Provides an implementation schedule
- Identifies options for capital project financing
- Identifies Councils strategic initiative
- Links capital projects to budgets
The CIP contains a complete list of the capital projects and equipment to be purchased, project financing, project time tables, project information and justification, and expenditure requirements for each project.
The CIP serves as the basis for planning the Capital Improvement Projects Budget over the next 5 fiscal years. The CIP is updated annually.
Capital improvements are major projects that are generally not recurring and are for repairs, maintenance, improvement, or acquisition of City assets.
Council Policy 400-6 defines a Capital Improvement project as buildings, machinery or equipment with an original cost in excess of $5,000 and a useful life of three or more years.
Capital Improvement projects are funded from various sources. Funding details for each specific project can be found in the City's annual budget, located on the Finance page, and the project information sheets linked below.
CIP project funding sources include:
- General Fund
- Sewer Fund
- Regional Surface Transportation Program (RSTP)
- Cemetery Fund
- Buildings and Grounds Fund
- Reiko Koo Fund
- Bertha Strong Trust
- PEG Fund
- Civic Center Fund
- Point Pinos Lighthouse Fund
- Library Fund
- Measure X
- Grants
- Loans
Annually, City Staff updates the CIP project list. Projects are prioritized and presented for funding based upon the level of available funding estimated for the coming fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years. Once the CIP project list is reviewed and approved by City Council, it is becomes a component of the City's Annual Budget.
In addition to the operating budget, the CIP budget is one of the primary components of the annual budget.
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