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Finance staff and committee debate CIP timing, tracking and spending capacity
Summary
Committee members and finance staff discussed the FY26—2030 Capital Improvement Plan, focusing on delayed approvals, the need to consolidate project accounting across bond series, challenges deploying prior bond proceeds, and steps staff are taking to improve project tracking and payments through the ERP and monthly PBA reporting.
Providence finance staff and POCS members spent a substantial portion of the meeting on the city's draft capital improvement plan (CIP) for fiscal years 2026—2030. Deputy finance director Crystal Lundberg and Finance Director Sarah Stewart explained why the FY24 CIP had not been formally rolled forward and described a new, project-level coding system intended to track projects by funding source and project manager.
Staff said the city has been operating without an approved CIP for a year and that bond proceeds from prior issuances remain to be spent. Staff presented a "holistic" approach that compiled approved projects, existing encumbrances and department-level project plans and explained the 2026 column includes efforts to exhaust older bond dollars so the city can avoid IRS arbitrage and grant-expiration issues.
Committee members raised concerns about the late timing of CIP submissions, the difficulty of reconciling multiple bond series and project spreadsheets, and the need for clearer red-line comparisons between the 2024-approved plan and the draft 2026 plan. Staff acknowledged historical gaps in centralized project tracking and described steps to improve controls: routing purchase orders through the ERP (Lawson), requiring finance review before POs are issued, producing monthly requisition packets for the Providence Public Building Authority (PBA), and integrating transaction-level data into budget reporting so project managers can see budget-versus-actuals in near-real time.
Staff said they will continue reconciling legacy encumbrances and expect the annual audit and year-end close to improve data accuracy for next year's CIP process. Committee members asked for earlier calendar timing and more council engagement in next year's CIP development; staff said they welcome council input and plan to bring more complete reports and red-line materials to follow-up meetings.
The committee asked departments (parks, DPW, public property) to be ready to walk through funded projects in detail at follow-up sessions; staff said they will schedule additional CIP meetings for line-item diligence and to finalize funding alignments.
