The Capital Improvement Program committee presented its advisory 2026–2031 plan to the Alton Town Planning Board on the evening of the meeting, recommending a multi-year program that prioritizes road repair and routine equipment purchases while omitting a proposed annual $300,000 reserve the committee said would be better handled as a bond issue.

The committee’s report matters because it frames projected capital needs and tax-rate impacts for the planning board, the select board and the budget committee; the document is advisory but the committee urged governing boards to “give credence to this report” when setting future budgets, said Frank Rich, chairman of the CIP committee.

Rich, identifying the committee’s role, said the CIP is “an advisory committee only. We really have no say. We just advise.” He told the planning board the committee met five times, worked with department heads and factored inflation and alternative financing (grants, leasing, used equipment) into its estimates.

The committee highlighted that about $1,500,000 is dedicated to road repairs and maintenance in the plan — roughly 79–80% of the plan’s tax-impacted spending for the year — and estimated the average tax-rate impact across the next five years at about $1.20 per $1,000 of assessed valuation (committee figures vary by year as projects move). The plan retains funding for a ladder truck but does not include the $300,000-per-year increase the fire department had sought to build reserve toward a new station; Rich said the committee concluded that a firehouse of the size discussed should be financed by a bond rather than annual capital appropriations.

The committee also described an emergent recommendation to include one police cruiser in the CIP as a contingency: the police have several cruisers with very high mileage and have relied on a variable revenue fund for replacements. The CIP would establish a fallback of one cruiser purchase every other year at roughly the planned $80,000 expense, to be suspended if revenue levels allow continued fleet replacement from police revenue.

Pat O’Brien, a committee member, presented a worksheet showing what changed from last year’s plan and explained much of the reported increase owed to timing shifts of projects and inflation, rather than wholly new additions. He and other committee members said some budget lines were moved between years to keep the multiyear plan balanced with the town’s valuation changes.

Committee liaison planner Jesse McArthur and members said the committee solicited department head inputs, and that highway and fire department items account for most capital spending. The committee noted the town’s assessed valuation had risen substantially since last year (committee discussion referenced an approximately $14 million increase), and members cautioned that a statutory reassessment due every five years could change valuations again and affect the tax rate.

The planning board agreed to schedule a CIP public hearing at the Nov. 18 meeting; the planning board will hold a public hearing and then vote on the CIP at that public hearing, not at the joint presentation. Frank Rich said the CIP handbook allows the committee to alter department heads’ suggested years of implementation or financing, and the committee exercised that authority in removing the annual $300,000 reserve recommended by others.

The CIP committee asked the planning board and select board to consider the advisory report when setting budgets and to be mindful of the committee’s forecasted tax impacts and project timing. The committee also recommended continuing to seek grants and other ways to reduce the local tax burden.

Looking ahead, the committee indicated it may extend planning horizons beyond five years in future cycles to capture larger future projects and suggested a close review of spreadsheet formulas and assumptions used to generate per-thousand tax impact figures.

Questions from board members focused on project timing, spreadsheet math, and whether the committee should plan on a 10-year horizon for large facilities. No binding appropriations were adopted at the meeting; the CIP remains an advisory document until governing boards take formal budget and warrant actions.

The planning board and the CIP committee will present the CIP to the public at a Nov. 18 public hearing; any subsequent changes or formal authorizations would occur through the board of selectmen, the budget process and — where appropriate — warrant articles for voters.