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Salina commission reviews 2027 capital improvement plan, staff urges “level-loading” of projects
Summary
City staff presented a working five-year capital improvement plan and proposed shifting projects to avoid overlapping large construction in 2027; the commission discussed reprioritizing intersections and waterline work and flagged the need for a water-replacement funding plan.
City staff presented the draft 2027–2031 Capital Improvement Plan and asked commissioners to confirm priorities for the first year, which guides which projects staff will start in 2027. Debbie Pack, the director of finance, said the plan is a working document that can be adjusted each year and that staff seeks to keep property-tax-supported debt roughly steady so the city spends about $3–4 million a year on those projects.
"Our goal with the capital improvement plan has to bend to kind of level load things," Pack said, noting the model assumes 20-year bonds at about 4% and that 2027 debt-financed projects total roughly $12,780,000 while enterprise-funded projects bring the 2027 package to about $25,692,000. City manager Jacob (staff) and public-works director Ron Marsh walked commissioners through project specifics, including East Iron (Delaware to Marymount), West Magnolia phases and East Crawford near the new fire station.
Commissioners pressed staff on timing. One commissioner requested Ohio and Shilling be moved up because of traffic and safety concerns at that intersection, and another said East Iron did not appear as urgent. Staff proposed moving design and construction dates for some projects to maintain the same overall annual debt burden, saying debt capacity and fund balance permit modest shifts without raising property taxes now.
Pack also reviewed funding sources used to service debt: property tax, motor-vehicle tax, guest taxes, transfers from sales-tax capital funds and enterprise funds. She told the commission the city’s annual debt service payments are about $16 million now, of which roughly $3 million comes from property-tax revenues. Staff said their financial modeling assumes modest property-tax growth (about 2.8%) under current legislative expectations.
Commissioners instructed staff to return the CIP with the suggested timing changes and requested that staff bring an options package on waterline replacement funding in the coming weeks so the commission can consider whether to accelerate that work in future budgets.
