City manager presents $1.1 billion recommended five-year CIP, flags debt and tax-rate tradeoffs

City Manager Alan Archer and budget staff on Oct. 28 presented a recommended five-year capital improvement plan that would program roughly $1.1 billion in capital spending for fiscal years 2027–2031 and move only the first year into appropriation. Corey Cloud, assistant director of budget and evaluation, said the recommended plan "is approximately $1,100,000,000," slightly below the current adopted plan.

The plan is a strategic schedule and funding proposal for priority capital projects and equipment purchases. "The CIP serves as a commitment schedule for capital spending in the next in the first year, and a strategic plan for investments over the following 4 years," Archer said. The recommended program aligns projects with the city's stated priorities of people, places and government.

Why it matters: the recommended plan affects operating budgets, debt service and the property-tax rate. Cloud told council staff modeled the program against the city's debt-management policies and said the recommendation “does brush up against our thresholds for our debt management policies,” which could affect future…