Wausau CIP committee forwards 2026 priorities to finance; moves oblique imagery up, recommends borrowing for Memorial Park access road

The Wausau Capital Improvement Program Committee on Monday voted to forward its 2026 project prioritization and funding recommendations to the city finance committee, endorsing a set of swaps and contingencies intended to cover immediate needs within roughly $600,000 of locally available funding.

The committee said it considered about $6.27 million in project requests and roughly $600,000 in locally available levy funding for 2026. To make room for higher-ranked items, members agreed to pull the fleet facility design out of the local levy recommendation and debt-finance that design work instead; to move oblique aerial imagery above the funding line; to defer IT data-tagging and data-loss-prevention projects; and to split the purchase of ballistic shields so half could be purchased in 2026 and half in a subsequent year.

Why it matters: the committee’s list will guide next steps in the city’s 2026 budget process. Several items on the list have outside dependencies — most notably a proposed municipal solar array that the committee left conditional on federal tax credits — and others will require borrowing or grant awards before construction or full procurement can proceed.

Most significant decisions and rationale

- Fleet facility design: Committee members agreed the $2.5 million design work should be treated as a debt-financed capital project rather than paid from the limited levy funding available for 2026. That choice freed local levy dollars to cover other priorities.

- Oblique imagery: The committee agreed to move a $60,000 oblique aerial imagery project above the funding line by deprioritizing IT data-tagging and data-loss-prevention work, and by reducing the ballistic-shield purchase to $30,000 in 2026 and phasing the rest for a later year. The committee discussed that imagery is used citywide and is cyclical; staff said delaying imagery would put mapping a year behind the city’s normal schedule.

- Ballistic shields and public-safety equipment: Members agreed to split the ballistic-shields purchase in half to free funds for the imagery project. The shields were originally budgeted at about $60,000 to buy 10 shields; cutting to $30,000 would buy roughly half the set in 2026, with the rest to follow.

- Memorial Park Drive and lot pavement: The committee discussed the access road’s slope and drainage issues and recommended that Memorial Park Drive be included in the city’s 2026 borrowing (debt) program rather than funded from the levy. Committee members said patching is a short-term fix and that more permanent reconstruction likely requires borrowing.

- Solar array at the wastewater plant: The committee left $150,000 in the plan for engineering and design but emphasized the project remains contingent on federal tax credits and outside grants. Committee members noted the expected utility savings would reduce plant operating costs, but losing federal tax credits would lengthen the project payback (members estimated a payback of roughly 17–25 years depending on available credits).

- Extraction tools and other grants: Fire department staff said they have applied for a grant for extraction tools; if awarded (staff said notification is expected in late September), the city’s required match would be about 10 percent. Committee members placed a DPW garage-door replacement ($51,000) on a contingency list tied to that grant outcome.

Parks parking-lot funding debate

Committee members spent a substantial portion of the meeting discussing several park parking-lot projects, particularly Riverside Park and Sylvan (Sylvan Hill). Jamie, Parks Department staff, said Riverside includes “big holes” that create hazards, while Sylvan is “just deteriorated” and more of an aesthetic and long-term maintenance issue. The committee prioritized Riverside over Sylvan because Riverside’s pavement failures presented more immediate safety concerns.

Members discussed options to reduce costs by doing some parking-lot work in-house (using city crews and materials) rather than relying on outside contractors, and suggested exploring whether combining multiple parking-lot projects could yield contractor savings. No additional funding source was identified during the meeting; several members urged a longer-term approach to facilities and parking-lot maintenance funding.

Formal action

At the end of the meeting the committee approved a motion to send the committee’s prioritized list and funding recommendations to the finance committee for consideration in the 2026 budget. Alder Rasmussen made the motion; Jean seconded. The motion carried on a voice vote.

What remains unresolved

- The solar-array project remains conditional on federal tax-credit availability; committee members said they expect clearer guidance before the finance committee and final budget decisions in November.

- The extraction-tools purchase depends on a pending grant decision expected in September; the garage-door replacement was placed on a contingency list tied to that outcome.

- Sylvan Hill parking-lot work was left off the 2026 levy-funded list because the committee could not identify an additional roughly $185,000 needed to fund it; members recommended exploring alternative funding or scheduling options.

Next steps

Committee staff will forward the prioritized list and the committee’s swaps and contingencies to the finance committee for the 2026 budget process. Members noted finance could reallocate items later in the year if outside grant awards or federal decisions change the funding picture.