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Mayor's proposed 2025 capital budget nears $2.9 billion; finance director explains funding sources and carryover
Summary
Director Chris Long and Chair Bankston presented the mayor's proposed 2025 capital improvements budget, explaining the city's funding structure (25% income‑tax set aside and enterprise revenues), the role of bond sales and the treatment of carryover funds from prior years.
City finance officials presented the mayor's proposed 2025 capital-improvements budget to the Finance and Governance Committee, describing a multiyear funding framework that relies on an income-tax set‑aside, enterprise revenues and bond financing.
Finance Director Chris Long told the committee the budget process compiles departmental capital requests and balances them with capacity determined with the auditor and the mayor's priorities. "We set aside 25¢ or 25% of every dollar, of income tax, specifically into an income tax set aside account," Long said, explaining one of the city's two main capital revenue sources. He added that enterprise fund revenues — the utilities' customer bills — make up the other primary source.
Long noted the city's AAA bond rating helps lower borrowing costs and that the administration presents both a six‑year capital improvements program and a one‑year adopted capital budget. In slides, finance staff showed the city's ten‑year capital portfolio growing from a little over $1 billion in 2016 to nearly $2.9 billion in the proposed 2025 budget.
Committee members asked for clarification on when capital dollars are actually spent. Long said large capital projects often take years to complete and that the presented budget contains both "new funding and then carryover funding," money adopted in prior years that has not yet been spent. He described spending as project‑by‑project and said bond sales are timed to cash-flow needs.
Long also described department-level uses of capital: facility renovations and construction management, HVAC work at COSI, fleet management and design work for a new municipal-court building at 410 High Street. He said the city hopes to begin demolition of the existing Karnes Building at 410 South High and do site work next year to prepare for the new municipal court site.
Why it matters: The presentation framed the capital budget as the city's method for investing in long‑lived assets — streets, parks, public safety facilities and utilities — and explained how near‑term appropriations are linked to multi‑year cash flows. The committee was told the proposed 2025 budget is still subject to public input and council action ahead of the planned late‑July adoption timeline.
Looking ahead: The director provided a contact and public materials (including the six‑year program) and said council will consider amendments and adoption before its July 28 meeting.
