NextGen subcommittee backs 2024 3A spending, will send memo to council

A NextGen Advisory Board subcommittee reported that the city spent $8.8 million from its 3A capital-purpose funds in 2024 and will forward a memorandum on the review to City Council on June 10, the board heard.

The subcommittee, which meets twice annually to review the prior year’s expenditures, told the advisory board it was “overall pleased with the way that the funds were spent,” and that spending stayed “within the appropriate language” of the 3A fund, the board chair said. The review found funding across capital-project management, pavement work and smaller allocations to planning efforts.

The memo will summarize an itemized 2024 breakdown the subcommittee presented to the NextGen board. The subcommittee reported approximately $1,000,000 allocated to capital-project management; $3,400,000 toward pavement/road work; and about $244,000 applied to Project Downtown design and consulting, the chair said. The committee also noted that 3A-supported positions amount to roughly “eight and a half” employees paid from the fund.

The review flagged public communication as a follow-up priority. The subcommittee said it will explore signage and online materials to help residents trace which projects were funded by 3A, so citizens can see where the dollars were spent and what work they enabled. “There’s actually gonna be some signage that we’re gonna explore…so that way you can kind of see that this is where the money’s going,” the chair said.

Board members asked for more clarity in next-year materials, including clearer statements about what projects were enabled by 3A funding versus other city funds and more explicit forecast charts. One board member said the packet did not make it “immediately clear” which items were enabled by 3A and asked for counterfactual examples showing what might not have happened without the funds.

The subcommittee also discussed environmental spending within 3A. Board members noted that 3A had previously shown little or no direct environmental-sustainability spending over a recent three-year span, and that the line item is newly added; staff clarified that other city sustainability work may be funded outside 3A. The transcript records staff saying the new environmental line was small in 2024 and that other sustainability projects may be funded through different city funds.

Next steps: the subcommittee will finalize and submit the memorandum to City Council on the stated June 10 date and will continue to examine forecasting, signage and public reporting options that would show project-level impacts of 3A spending.

Sources: presentation and remarks to the NextGen Advisory Board by board members and city staff during the meeting.