Overview of the Capital Improvement Process
To guide the City in making necessary physical improvements, the City Charter requires the Planning Commission to annually prepare a six-year recommended Capital Improvement Program (CIP). A capital improvement, as defined by Board of Estimates policy, is "… any physical betterment or improvement and any preliminary studies and surveys relative thereto, including, but not limited to, any property of a permanent nature, and equipment needed in connection with such improvement, when first erected or acquired. The terms 'capital improvement' or 'capital project' shall not include the following: projects or improvements costing less than $50,000; vehicular equipment; items of a repair or maintenance nature costing less than $100,000 or which are of an emergency nature; Bureau of Water and Waste Water items of repair, maintenance or emergency nature costing less than $250,000; salaries other than those which are properly capitalized as part of the project cost."
To begin the CIP process, the Department of Finance sends the overall capital fund source budget targets to the Department of Planning. Planning then assigns specific agency targets, by fund source, and sends out detailed CIP guidelines and instructions to all agencies. The agencies then submit their six-year capital requests and Planning Department Comprehensive Planning Division staff perform a detailed analysis of the requests received. Staff work with agencies to prioritize requests by assessing whether the proposed project fulfills the Mayor's key goals and meets specific Planning Commission criteria, listed below.
Mayor's Citywide Goals
- Create Clean, Green, and Healthy Neighborhoods
- Embrace a Growth Agenda that supports Economic Opportunity, Economic Empowerment, and Economic Development
- Reestablish Neighborhoods as the Organizing Principle in Community and Human Development
- Foster a More Efficient and Effective Government
- Ensure Consistency with the Citywide Comprehensive Master Plan