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Planning department outlines FY24–FY25 capital program as temporary HUR increase boosts transportation funds
Summary
Planning department gave a quarter-two capital improvement program briefing showing utilities dominate CIP funds, a temporary increase in Highway User Revenue boosts FY25 transportation allocations, and procurement/industry pressures are complicating project delivery.
The Baltimore City Planning Department presented the FY24–FY25 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and warned that procurement, supply-chain and labor pressures — and recent federal policy changes — complicate capital delivery even as a temporary Highway User Revenue (HUR) increase boosts FY25 transportation funding.
Sarah Parnellum, division chief for policy and data analysis in the Baltimore City Planning Department, told the Budget and Appropriations Committee that utility funds (water, wastewater, stormwater) and revenue bonds make up the majority of the two-year CIP and that transportation’s share rises in FY25 because a temporary HUR increase added roughly $69 million to the capital program.
Parnellum said that FY24 and FY25 maintained $80 million a year in general obligation bonds but that guidance for FY26 would increase local bonding to $125 million, enabling the administration to ask agencies to request full funding for a project phase in a single fiscal year rather than spreading design and construction across multiple years.
Parnellum warned that long procurement timelines, limited bidders for city work, regulatory reviews (stormwater, building permits, state/federal reviews) and inflation have combined to make capital estimates and delivery “lumpy.” She said the Mayor’s Office of Infrastructure Development (MOID) is working with agencies to improve capital contracting and monthly project monitoring for priority projects.
DOT officials said a fiscal 24 to 25 change in the traffic-safety line reflected the award and use of a federal discretionary Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) grant in FY24; local funding for traffic safety remains similar year to year. DOT and other agencies acknowledged ongoing coordination issues across agencies and said they are working to improve interagency communication for sidewalk, ADA and street-safety projects.
Highlighted projects in the two-year program included a $100 million-plus lead service line inventory and replacement program (water), Patapsco Headworks and clarifier upgrades (wastewater), significant street resurfacing funded by the temporary HUR increase, and continued capital investments in affordable housing and impact-investment areas. Parnellum said the Middle Branch Resiliency Initiative and site-level stormwater projects are also included in FY25 allocations.
What’s next: agencies will continue monthly capital monitoring, MOID will pursue process and contracting improvements, and the council requested a district-level breakdown of CIP projects for FY24 and FY25 to be provided to the committee within two weeks.
