Public Works presents CIP by district; $862 million remaining to deliver active projects

Public Works presented the city’s capital improvement program (CIP) by council district to the Finance Committee on Jan. 23, reporting an active-project total budget of about $1.4 billion and a remaining balance of roughly $862 million needed to complete those projects.

Nina Sickler, of Public Works, said the department reviewed trends from 2020 to 2024 and that the department is prioritizing projects that are realistically deliverable and affordable. Sickler told the committee the handout and spreadsheet provided to members list active projects with remaining balances greater than $100 and are sorted by council district.

Why it matters: The CIP determines where large capital dollars are spent across districts and affects roads, stormwater, facilities and other long-lived infrastructure. Sickler said the department used several metrics to help choose projects, including an age proxy derived from the county property-appraiser database (average year-built of structures by district) and a crash-heat map for Duval County to surface safety priorities. She and staff emphasized collaboration with district councilmembers during the next budget cycle to align needs and available funding.

Key details reported to the committee: - Total budget value for active projects: about $1.4 billion. - Remaining balance to complete active projects: approximately $862 million (total budget minus expenditures and encumbrances). - For the five-year capital plan (2025–2029) staff listed 216 funded projects countywide totaling roughly $930 million (staff also reviewed 526 projects in the 2020–2024 period with a combined total near $1.7 billion). Those earlier-year figures were presented as trend context. - Age proxy: staff averaged year-built data from the property appraiser’s database across all structures in each district to approximate infrastructure age; district averages ranged widely (examples cited: an average of 21 years in some districts up to 75 years in District 7). Public Works clarified the calculation used all buildings in the property database, not only public buildings. - Prioritization criteria: Public Works scores projects on multiple factors (safety, crash data, flooding resilience, asset age, economic-development potential) and sums those scores to rank projects for CIP inclusion.

Committee reaction and questions Councilmembers thanked staff for the presentation and the heat map. Councilmember Will Layne (District 3) raised concerns about the CIP’s financing magnitude, noting annual debt issuance has risen from roughly $200 million to about $400 million per year in recent years and urging colleagues to scrutinize individual district plans. Layne also suggested other infrastructure metrics (for example, last resurfacing date or road miles) might better represent roadway needs in some districts than the average building-age proxy.

Public Works response Sickler acknowledged the age-proxy caveat and said the department will work with councilmembers to reallocate or refine project lists before the next budget cycle; she emphasized staff intends to collaborate with each district to identify reallocation opportunities and missing items.

Speakers quoted or referenced in this report include Nina Sickler (Public Works) and Councilmember Will Layne (District 3).