Assembly hears CIP nominations, school district deferred‑maintenance totals and unusually high utility charges at base‑leased schools

The Assembly Finance Committee on Feb. 6 reviewed the mayor’s proposed FY26 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) changes, heard school district officials summarize facility needs and deferred maintenance, and questioned borough staff about unusually high utility invoices at base‑leased schools.

Why it matters: The FY26 CIP guides which capital projects the borough will fund and when. The Committee’s discussion also focused on whether the borough has adequate information to prioritize school facility projects, whether the borough or district should lead condition assessments, and how recurring utility costs at schools on military bases should be handled.

What the administration presented: David Bradley, director (Public Works / Design & Construction), reviewed how the borough evaluates CIP nominations and the technical scoring panel that ranks projects. He said the FY25 process produced 105 approved projects for the CIP and that the FY26 program being discussed largely rolls FY25 items forward into the FY26 year (first four years are the work plan that automatically rolls forward if funded). Bradley described proposed FY26 appropriations totaling roughly $17.8 million in new FY26 line items and explained fund‑code changes and timing shifts for several projects, including park work, the SS Nenana restoration and a proposed scoping allocation for a community rec center/fieldhouse turf.