City council hears $6.6 billion five‑year capital plan; utilities and public works outline major water, sewer and street projects

Oklahoma City council members on Dec. 23 received an introduction to the city’s five‑year Capital Improvement Plan and heard department presentations detailing priorities for water, sewer, streets, bridges and sidewalks.

Steve Akins of the city’s budget office told the council the plan is a planning tool — not an annual budget — that organizes projects over $50,000 and guides priority setting. “The total plan is $6,598,000,000 over the next 5 years,” Akins said, adding that a recently authorized $2.7 billion bond issue will contribute and that about $1.1 billion of bond proceeds are anticipated to be spent over the next five years.

Utilities staff described the system’s scale and the CIP focus. Jared McLaughlin said the department’s projects fall into three categories: resiliency and reliability, supply and growth, and regulatory compliance. On regulatory concerns he said the city is doing “baseline PFAS monitoring of liquid and solid streams” and evaluating commercially available treatment technologies. He told the council the city has identified “approximately 400 lead service lines to be replaced.”

McLaughlin highlighted long‑range supply projects. He described the second Atoka pipeline as a 72‑inch, roughly 100‑mile conduit from Southeast Oklahoma that he said is a roughly $1 billion project and noted the Kiamichi River Water Management Program — tied to a multi‑party settlement — is estimated at about $530 million and must be completed by 2035 to secure associated water rights.

Debbie Miller, public works director, presented the department’s $582 million portfolio of projects it will oversee over the five‑year period, including bridge work (five new bridges, 13 rehabs), street resurfacing funded by the geobond program, sidewalks tied to school access and a program of drainage projects. She showed examples of completed work and said Public Works coordinates many projects on behalf of other departments.

Akins and staff said utilities account for the single largest share of the CIP, followed by an allocation listed as culture and entertainment that includes an NBA arena, public works and airports. Funding sources, Akins told the council, are primarily trust funds (about 63% of the plan), bonds (about 21%) and special taxes (about 11%).

Council members and staff agreed on a schedule: additional department presentations will continue Dec. 30 and the council is scheduled to set a public hearing and adopt the CIP on Jan. 13, 2026.

Provenance: This article is drawn from the budget office introduction, utilities and public works presentations.