Santa Fe finance committee adopts 2027–2031 infrastructure capital improvements plan

The City of Santa Fe Finance Committee on July 7 voted to adopt a resolution approving the city's 2027 through 2031 Infrastructure Capital Improvements Plan and directed staff to submit the plan to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) by the July 11 deadline.

The plan compiles capital priorities across city departments and lists the top five funding requests the city will seek from the Legislature and other sources, Public Works Director Regina Wheeler told the committee. "This capital plan embodies the needs of all the departments from a capital perspective," Wheeler said during her presentation.

Why it matters: the ICIP serves as the city's prioritized list for legislative requests and as a vehicle to meet eligibility requirements for some grants and loan programs. Wheeler told the committee the plan will be reviewed by legislators in the 2026 session and that being on the ICIP can help the city pursue legislative appropriations and other funding streams.

Top priorities and funding context Director Wheeler said the ICIP's top five projects include a large-capacity noncongregate shelter intended to expand capacity and add wraparound service offices; continued upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant; a police training facility; phase 2 of the airport terminal project; and major work at the Midtown site. Wheeler said the wastewater project received $1,600,000 from the Legislature last year and that airport terminal phase 1 totaled about $19,000,000, roughly half of which was legislative funding. She said Midtown has received substantial legislative investment and described it as a long-term, large-scale project.

Wheeler described the list as compiled by project managers across departments and prioritized by department directors and city leadership. She said the ICIP is also tailored to projects that would be attractive to the Legislature or required to be on a list to pursue other funding programs, such as state revolving loan funds and federal grants.

Questions on transparency and tracking Councilor Cassatt pressed staff on what she described as opacity in the capital process and on how projects are tracked and amended. She asked whether the ICIP includes every capital priority and how projects that do not appear on the current list are tracked.

"I still find so much, you know, opacity. Is that how you pronounce the word? I think so," Councilor Cassatt said, asking for clarity on where projects are maintained and how to keep priorities from being dropped unintentionally.

Wheeler acknowledged gaps in centralized tracking and said the city is improving systems. "We don't have a really robust system that's tracking this for us. And we're working with finance all the time on improving that, using Munis to help us with that," she said, adding that Public Works and Facilities are implementing an asset-management system that will help track capital work. Wheeler also identified other planning documents that house capital projects, including MPO-managed master plans for transportation, the comprehensive stormwater plan, and sustainability planning documents.

Amendments, supporting detail and next steps Wheeler told the committee that the ICIP must be submitted to DFA by the July 11 deadline and that once entered into DFA's system it is not readily amendable. She offered to provide the committee with the project workbook pages the DFA system produces for top projects and with additional project workbooks on request.

Committee members requested more contextual language and funding breakdowns in the packet'for example, a short blurb for the top projects describing scope, amount needed, and funding already secured. Wheeler said she would provide the project workbook for the top five projects and make workbooks available on request.

Vote and formal action The committee moved and seconded the resolution to adopt the 2027'2031 Infrastructure Capital Improvements Plan. A roll-call vote recorded yes votes from Councilor Cassatt, Councilor Lindell and Councilor Lee Garcia; the motion passed.

What happens next The committee approved the resolution for submission to the DFA by the stated July 11 deadline; Wheeler said the plan will be seen by legislators in the 2026 legislative session. Wheeler and staff will provide project workbooks for the top five items and said they will accept requests for additional project-level detail from councilors.

Acknowledgments: During the meeting staff also presented a certificate of appreciation to Kathy M. Thompson of the finance department for her work on grant compliance; that ceremonial presentation did not affect the ICIP action.