Council reviews $7.9 million wish list in five-year capital improvement plan

City finance leaders briefed the Newport City Council on a draft five-year Capital Improvement Program on the evening of the CIP workshop, describing the document as a planning “wish list” rather than a funding commitment.

"The CIP document is not a financial or funding recommendation. The CIP document is not intended to become a budget document," said Jim Nolan, director of finance, while walking councilors through the draft fiscal year 2026 planning totals.

The draft lists $7.9 million in General Fund requests for fiscal 2026. Major lines include facility improvements ($5.5 million), information and communication systems ($515,000), parks and playgrounds ($550,000), road improvements ($378,000) and other projects ($940,000). Nolan told the council the administration began soliciting departmental requests in November and intends the workshop to inform later budget decisions.

Nolan and Elizabeth Scheppa, senior budget analyst, emphasized that projects must be formally authorized and funded before work can proceed and that staff expects to pare the list during the spring budget process depending on fiscal constraints. The presentation also identified other funding sources: equipment-replacement reserves ($2.1 million), grants and congressional appropriations ($3.8 million) and the $98.5 million infrastructure bond passed in November.

Councilors pressed staff for more clarity on which projects rely on grants or lease revenues. Nolan said detailed funding breakouts are provided in the presentation’s Table 1 and that staff will flag items that depend on federal funding that could be fragile. "We are certainly keeping track and monitoring any grant revenue that was presented to us and understand what the ramifications will be," Nolan said.

Enterprise funds show larger gaps. The water fund’s planned funded CIP for 2026 is $3.1 million with a five-year funded total of $21.4 million, while total projected water needs for 2026 were presented as $26.2 million and a five-year need of $143 million, leaving substantial unfunded work. Wastewater and stormwater (WPC) projects show funded projects of $15.3 million for 2026 and unfunded needs of $26.5 million just for that year.

Several councilors cautioned the plan understates the city’s ambitions and the scale of repair needs. One councilor said the document read like a "dream catalog" and urged staff to more clearly map policy priorities such as the Transportation Master Plan, Easton’s Beach hardening and Elizabeth Brook projects into the CIP. Staff responded that the larger detailed CIP document will include fuller project pages and funding notes.

The presentation concluded with staff saying the list is intentionally aspirational; no formal decisions were made at the workshop. Councilors asked staff to return with more detailed funding splits (grant vs. local funds), flags for fragile federal awards and clarification of which projects in the draft are expected to be self-supporting through lease or enterprise revenues.

For now, Nolan said, the document will guide the March charter hearing and the upcoming budget cycle.