Duncanville staff lay out data-driven CIP priorities and five-year project list

Assistant Public Works Director Shaheed Mohammed and staff told the council that Duncanville needs a formal, financially supported five-year capital improvement program rather than the partial plan that has guided past spending.

Mohammed described a scoring approach that assigns 50% weight to asset condition, 20% to risk/impact, 20% to cost and 10% to public/staff input, and said the approach draws on recently collected condition data (PCI for streets, water/utility age and material types) to rank hundreds of needs. Staff showed priority lists across project types: planning/engineering (comprehensive rate study and a DeSoto-Duncanville hike-and-bike tie-in), drainage and flood-management projects identified by the recent drainage master plan (about $41M total in longer-term needs), facility improvements (service center, Fire Station 2), and utility pipe-bursting and lead-service-line work funded by grants.

Staff emphasized that delaying maintenance increases long-term cost (presenting estimates that delays of five to ten years could raise costs by roughly one-third to nearly 80% under current inflation assumptions) and urged council to adopt a funding plan. The recommended near-term work includes a comprehensive rate study (approx. $750,000 split across funds) to evaluate utility, stormwater and potential street-maintenance fees and to craft sustainable funding for CIP priorities.

Council directed staff to return for a dedicated CIP workshop and to circulate the underlying scoring matrices and five-year phasing for review. Staff will refine project phasing and funding plans with the city's financial advisor and bring a funded CIP recommendation for council approval.