Council reviews FY25 decreasing-balance capital spreadsheet, directs staff on vehicle/fleet savings and Linder Road

City staff presented a decreasing-balance spreadsheet and a multi-year view of capital maintenance and projects during a workshop portion of the April 16 Eagle City Council meeting. The presentation laid out current available capital, funds under contract, partnership project obligations and the timing of reimbursements from partner agencies.

Nicole, a city staff member, said the capital fund opening balance for FY25 was $15,000,704 and walked the council through committed contracts and partnership liabilities that reduce the uncommitted fund balance. She emphasized that reimbursements from partner agencies (URA, developers, ACHD) are budgeted revenue but often arrive in later fiscal years after project completion and that advancing budget authority does not itself obligate final payments until agreements are executed.

Council discussion and staff direction: council members debated several items in the workshop. Councilwoman Russell and others proposed removing the vehicle replacement and fleet expansion savings from the capital plan and moving them into individual department budgets so departments would manage replacement savings directly. That move would free roughly $200,000 of capital savings for reallocation. Multiple council members said they wanted to keep a $100,000 placeholder for the Three Cities River Crossing study for one more year while ITD evaluates programming decisions in July.

After further discussion on priorities, members signaled consensus to direct staff to prepare a formal capital plan modification that would reclassify the vehicle-replacement and fleet expansion savings as department budget items and to propose transferring the freed savings toward Linder Road (to address an anticipated $1.5–$2.0 million enhancement request for Linder). Nicole said staff would return with a draft modification and updated spreadsheet for formal council action.

Other items covered: the workshop reviewed funded-but-uncontracted projects (Friendship Park playground, Heritage Park scope reduction, library master plan), the city’s match for an Idaho Fish and Game grant for the Foothills Shooting Sports Park (an $80,000 city match for pit toilets and an automated gate), and a capital maintenance plan across FY26–30 that lists unfunded maintenance needs (Clear Creek Trail resurfacing, Southbank Trail repairs, museum roof, trolley maintenance or replacement).

Next steps: staff will prepare the requested capital plan modification(s) for council consideration and will bring back updated cost estimates and the paired-comparison ranking tool for council prioritization of new projects. Nicole said the updated documents will be used to develop the FY26–30 capital plan for formal adoption later this year.

Ending: The council used the workshop to set staff priorities and requested follow-up materials; no final appropriation beyond Modification No. 3 was approved at the workshop portion of the meeting.