Newport News manager recommends $1.1 billion, five-year capital improvement plan; council to consider May 13

City Manager Alan submitted the city manager's recommended FY2026–FY2030 Capital Improvement Plan to the Newport News City Council at a work session on Tuesday, April 22, proposing roughly $1.1 billion in capital spending across five years.

Corey Cloud, assistant director of budget and evaluation, said the CIP “sets forth a prioritized schedule for funding capital assets for the city,” describing it as both a schedule of near-term appropriations and a multi-year plan for capital investments. Cloud said projects are funded mainly through cash capital and the issuance of debt, with grant funding and occasional developer contributions supporting specific projects.

The recommended five-year plan would shift funding among categories compared with the currently adopted 2025 plan, Cloud said, with notable increases in public buildings and schools and a large share of funding for environmental stewardship and utility infrastructure. The presentation lists the total recommended CIP as about $1,100,000,000 across five years and describes approximately $264,000,000 of that allocated to Water Works projects; Cloud also said environmental stewardship and sustainability total about $431,000,000 across the plan, largely for stormwater, sewer and water operations.

Cloud told council the plan assumes conservative fiscal management and that the city is currently within its debt-management policy ratios as of June 30, 2024. He warned the recommended projections push some ratios toward policy maximums — citing a “debt burden ratio at 2.9%” and a ratio of general-fund debt-service obligation at 8.9% — and said the plan leaves “limited capacity” to add projects without affecting those ratios. Cloud also said the city does not issue debt every year; the most recent bond sale was July 2023 and staff do not expect returning to the bond market until at least the second or third quarter of the upcoming fiscal year.

The CIP presentation highlighted a number of major projects and recurring allocations in the first (appropriated) year and in planned later years: $66,000,000 for education and learning across the plan including continuing school facility renovations and bus replacements; $175,000,000 included for design and construction of a consolidated court facility to house three current facilities; continued funding for Denbigh and Warwick high school renovations; and continued regional Water Works investments that Cloud said serve more than 400,000 people in Newport News, Hampton, James City County and Williamsburg.

Cloud said the recommended CIP also includes a new “community facilities” category, returning capital support for qualified nonprofit organizations. The presentation lists three organizations that applied through the city’s CSAC process: the YMCA (a $3,000,000 request to support construction of a new aquatics center and teen center), the Virginia Living Museum (a two-for-one challenge with the city matching up to $1,000,000 over two years for a campaign described by staff as the museum’s Next Gen Protect What's Precious growth campaign) and a third nonprofit that receives regular CSAC operating support.

On transportation and public-rights-of-way projects, Cloud said nearly $96,000,000 of identified funding in the CIP is tied to grants, with about $71,000,000 described as federal grant funding. He said 15 street and pedestrian improvement projects are scheduled to receive federal funding in 2026, 10 of them fully funded by federal grants and five partially funded. Cloud and staff said they will monitor the federal funding outlook and present options to council if grant awards change, including bringing projects forward on city funding only.

Council members raised several project-specific points during the presentation. A council member asked that a fire station project be “moved to the left” in the schedule to accelerate its timing, and Cloud confirmed the plan includes replacement of 11 fire emergency vehicles over the five-year period and a roughly $2,000,000 allocation in year one for the city jail locking system replacement. Council members also asked staff to clarify the timeline for Sherwood/Government Center planning; Cloud said FY2026 funding is shown for potential acquisition and renovation but that Sherwood is not currently identified as the confirmed location.

Council and staff discussed a citywide annual allocation of $300,000 for demolition of blighted and vacant buildings, a program the presentation tied to the public’s top community-survey priority. Harold, the city’s codes compliance director, told council that the city has historically spent about $150,000 to nearly $200,000 in aggressive demolition years (often centered in the Southeast community using CDBG funds) and that $300,000 is intended as a reasonably aggressive starting allocation; he said actual demolition needs will depend on owners’ responses when code notices are issued and that the preferred outcome is property owners addressing defects themselves. Council members asked whether the $300,000 allocation shown in the CIP is the same single pool referenced in the operating budget; Cloud confirmed it is the same allocation and not a separate amount.

Cloud said the first-year appropriations represent the money the council would be asked to adopt; later years are planning estimates. Staff indicated the adopted CIP and an interactive CIP map would be posted to the city website the evening of April 22 and that the adopted CIP will come forward to council for adoption along with the recommended operating budget on May 13.

Votes at a glance

At the April 22 work session council approved a motion to hold a closed meeting under the Code of Virginia (statute cited on the record) to discuss acquisition of real property and a prospective business expansion. The motion passed on a roll-call vote of 7–0. The council recorded the vote as follows: Vice Mayor Bethany — yes; Councilman Coleman — yes; Councilman Ealy — yes; Councilman Harris — yes; Mayor Philip Jones — yes; Councilman Long — yes; Councilwoman Vitt — yes.