The city council was able to get a first look at a five-year capital projects spending plan, presented last week by city staff. The multi-page document included $7.4 million in projects for the 2017-18 fiscal year.
City Manager Dr. Kindon Meik recommended the council review the document, which takes money from grants, reserves and current year monies to tackle the projects. He said the multi-year budget will help management plan for current and future needs for the city, while knowing the expenditures required to complete needed projects, ranging from new vehicles to road repair to improvements at the city water plant. Projects scheduled to begin in the current year include: –Construction of a new police department. Cost is set at over $3.9 million for the pre-fab building, with engineering and planning studies currently underway. The project will be completed using $3.808 million in grant funds received from the state, during the current fiscal year; another $132,000 will be spent on the project in the 2018-19 fiscal year with that money coming from police department fund balance. –A Father Wyatt Park rehab will take place this year, with improvement to the softball fields, replacement of bathroom doors, paint, new park shelter roof and rejuvenation of the baseball field coming in at a cost of $73,500. The money for the project will come from a park grant of $63,000 and $10,000 in impact fees. –Cesar Chavez Park will also see improvements from impact fees and a park grant to replace playground equipment, replace bathroom doors, paint and soft fall, for a total of $117,000 in expenses. –At John Maroot Park, new bathrooms are planned by spending $69,000 from a park grant. –Street maintenance projects will take place over two years, with the 2017-18 roadwork totaling $443,000. This work will include slurry seal, chip seal and reclamite with money coming from fund balances and SB1. –Lift Station 14 will be reconstructed at a cost of $500,000, with funds coming from impact fees. That work should begin in October; the lift station is located near the RAC facility. –Several vehicles will be replaced, starting this year and continuing for several years. Over the next four years, four vehicles will be purchased for the public works department, using fund balance monies of $47,500 per year. Also starting this year, six vehicles will be replaced for the water department, at a cost of $255,000; the $42,500 per year will come from the water fund balance. –Sewer main replacement will begin this year and is budgeted for at least $250,000 a year over the next six years. Money will be taken from the capital fund account for the work. Additionally, water main replacement will begin this year and continue for five additional years, at a cost of $500,000 per year. Those dollars will come from the water account fund balance. –There will also be work completed on the sewer lift stations beginning this year and continuing for four more years. $124,000 will be spent this year from the fund balance. –Storm drain system improvements will start this year, with $30,000 coming from fund balance. This work will continue for four more years, at the same level, with money coming from the same place. –Water treatment plant upgrades will take place this year, at a cost of over $1 million. The funding will come from the capital fund account and fund balance. –The city will launch its meterization project this year, spending $100,000 from the water fund balance to begin putting residents on water meters. State law requires meters to be in place by 2025. –$180,000 will be spent by the transit department for a fixed route program which will also monitor mileage, fuel expense and other items, since transit is taking over the fixed route run previously in Corcoran by KART. Funding will come from a grant. –$60,000 worth of work will be done to the bathrooms at the municipal swimming pool. That money will come from Measure A, the first project identified for those funds since passage of the sales tax add-on in June of this year.
