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York County unveils new 5-year CIP process and scoring rubric to prioritize projects
Summary
Assistant manager Tom Couch outlined a new five-year capital improvement program that uses a bottoms-up approach, departmental scoring rubrics and Year 1 conversion into the proposed capital budget to improve planning, grant competitiveness and financial stewardship.
York County staff presented a revised capital improvements planning (CIP) approach to the Council on Nov. 10 designed to improve project sequencing, transparency and grant competitiveness.
Tom Couch said the program will use a multi-year (five-year recommended) time horizon, a bottoms-up process driven by department-level submissions and an objective scoring rubric to prioritize ‘big rock’ capital projects. “It’s a 5 to 6 year time horizon,” Couch said, noting the approach is intended to align with strategic plans, aid grant timing and preserve the county’s bond rating by better managing fiscal capacity.
Couch explained that Year 1 of the CIP becomes the proposed capital budget while out-year forecasts and cash flow considerations inform multi-year financial planning. The rubric under development will assign weighted scores across factors such as safety, compliance and value; departments will support project recommendations with data and alignment to council priorities.
Why it matters: Staff said the changes aim to reduce surprises, better sequence projects for grant funding and create a transparent rolling schedule that shows funding sources, current budget and projected out-year costs. Couch said he would bring the new CIP format into the winter budget process and that council would see the CIP as part of the December–February budget cycle.
Next steps: Staff will continue to vet the rubric with departments, produce forms for project submissions and present the initial CIP package during this winter’s budget process so the council can review projects, costs and funding sources across the five-year horizon.
