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Tempe presents $1.84 billion recommended five-year CIP, highlights pavement and housing projects
Summary
City staff presented a $1.84 billion recommended five-year capital improvements program, emphasizing pavement preservation, parks and affordable housing while noting funding limits and that no decisions were made at the work study session.
Robert Bear, the city's budget office director, presented Tempe's initial recommended five-year capital improvements program (CIP), saying "the recommended CIP in total is about 6% lower at $1.84 billion over the 5 years." The presentation was informational; council made no funding decisions at the work study session.
The plan focuses financing on enterprise projects (water, sewer and solid waste) and general obligation bond-funded projects. Bear told council the two largest financing categories are enterprise revenue sources and general obligation bond-funded projects, the latter cited at roughly $650 million in the recommended split. He also noted voter-approved bond authorizations from November 2024 tied to the adopted five-year CIP and said the total GO authorization approved by voters was $581.5 million.
Staff highlighted specific project lines that together account for a substantial portion of the CIP: a pavement preservation emphasis to raise the pavement quality index (PQI), park replacements and enhancements ($56 million), a planned fire station near the ASU Novus corridor (about $34 million), and an affordable housing enhancement project ($25.4 million). Bear summarized the program's public engagement: Tempe conducted community surveys (437 Tempe Forum responses) and mayoral youth advisory feedback to help prioritize investments.
City staff explained how projects were developed and scored: departments proposed projects from asset management plans; a 16-member CIP committee (department directors, frontline staff, and representatives from police and fire) rated projects on strategic alignment, asset preservation and relationship to health and safety. Staff emphasized financing constraints, noting voter-approved GO bond authorization and statutory limits on bond repayment sources and property tax levy growth used to estimate capacity.
Council members asked for clarity on committee membership and scoring; staff confirmed the CIP committee included department directors (for example, Eric Iverson and Jonathan Sheffield), frontline operations staff and cross-department representatives and that projects were prioritized by both preservation and health-and-safety metrics.
Next steps: staff said the presentation is part of a public process that will continue with future budget meetings and public input. No votes or funding commitments were taken at the March 23 work study session.
