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CIP committee finalizes 2026 prioritization, sends list to finance for budget consideration
Summary
The Capital Improvement Program Committee reviewed project rankings, made tradeoffs to fit roughly $600,000 of available levy funding, and voted to forward its prioritized list and funding recommendations to the finance committee for the 2026 budget process.
The Capital Improvement Program Committee voted to send its prioritized list of 2026 capital requests to the finance committee for consideration in the 2026 budget. The committee met Monday at City Hall with a quorum and worked through projects totaling roughly $6.27 million against about $600,000 of levy-funded capacity. The motion to forward the committee’s recommended list to finance was made by Alder Rasmussen and seconded by Committee member Jean and carried by voice vote. The committee also moved to adjourn at the meeting’s close.
Why it matters: The committee’s ranking establishes the city’s recommendation for which capital projects finance should consider in the next budget; with a large shortfall relative to requests, the committee chose tradeoffs and contingencies that will shape what projects are advanced or deferred.
During the meeting members reviewed each project’s ranking and funding source, then adjusted the list to reflect projects that would be debt-financed, TID-funded, or could be deferred. Committee members agreed to remove the $2.5 million fleet facility design from the levy-funded “above the line” list because the project will be debt-financed, and to keep three TID-funded items marked as zero levy impact in the recommended package. The committee settled on several specific changes: moving oblique aerial imagery above the funding line by cutting the first-year purchase of ballistic shields in half and deferring IT data-tagging items; phasing the ballistic shield purchase to $30,000 in 2026; recommending Memorial Park Drive and lot pavement as a candidate for borrowing because it is an access road; deferring the public safety building flat roof replacement; and keeping DPW garage door replacement ($51,000) on the list to add if a related fire grant comes through.
Committee members discussed grant-dependent items (extraction tools), TID-eligible work (River Edge Trail extension and certain Jefferson Street upgrades), and projects with federal or utility implications (solar array design and later borrowing). The group instructed staff and finance to treat the list as flexible: if anticipated federal tax credits or grants materialize before final budget adoption, the committee recommended finance consider swapping projects during the formal budget process.
The committee’s formal action was a single recorded motion to forward the prioritized list to finance for the 2026 budget; the motion passed by voice vote. The committee also adopted procedural direction that identified which projects should be debt-funded, which were TID-eligible, and which items could be phased or deferred pending grant outcomes. The finance committee will consider the recommendations during the formal 2026 budget hearings.
