Title
Discussion: Five-Year Plan
Executive Summary: As part of the on-going effort to improve the annual budget process, City Council and staff will conduct the third review of the 2015-2019 Five-Year Plan. The discussion will focus on capital projects and an appropriate carryover fund balance (emphasis on General Fund).
Body
Legislative History
The Five Year Plan was discussed previously at Council workshops on July 22, 2014, and August 12, 2014.
Purpose & Explanation
The purpose of this memo is to provide Council with an overview of the process that has been developed for the Five-Year Capital Planning process. The council work session on September 9, 2014, will provide an opportunity for staff to present the results of this process.
Development of the Five-Year Capital Planning Process:
Step 1 consisted of reformatting a spreadsheet into a five-plus-year format in which all capital projects would be placed by fund/department and by the year projected for the project to occur. The first year is essentially a funding plan for projects that are anticipated/necessary in the immediate year. The out years are considered more of a planning process whereby all anticipated capital needs are registered with the understanding that funding is not a given. The intention is to provide a comprehensive "picture" of the capital needs within the community to maintain our current municipal infrastructure.
Step 2 consisted of analyzing and balancing year one requests with year one available resources. This process is more complex as we are working through the transition of one capital budgeting process to another. In the past, we have backed into the dollar amount available for capital. With the process we are putting in place, we have the ability to develop a more dynamic response to capital needs.
Step 3 consisted of the administrative and finance staff meeting with individual department managers to review their capital needs. By doing this we can modify the needs and requests with a comprehensive lens. This includes the ability to look at needs from an interdepartmental perspective.
Step 4 provided us with the ability to sort the capital needs of the City by type of project as well as by year of need. This information is invaluable as we balance funding availability verses a multi-year planning process.
The work session on September 9 takes us into Step 5 of this capital planning process. The information provided on September 9 will develop the basis for the capital budgetary allocation for the 2015 fiscal year. I would like to remind members of Council of the dynamic nature of this "work in progress". There may be interest in modifying the funding portion of the capital plan from the planning portion. The model that staff is providing will allow this flexibility, but will also provide the fiscal impact of these modifications.
On behalf of the administrative staff, we would like to thank Council for the opportunity to re-examine our capital planning and funding process. While this is definitely an evolving process, we feel the plan being presented to you incorporates a thorough evaluation and collaboration of the many capital needs in the provision of strong community infrastructure and services.
Timing Considerations
A Resolution to adopt the Five-Year Plan in concept will be proposed at the November 19, 2014, Council meeting.
Fiscal Impact
NA
Recommendation
Suggested Action
No formal action is required at this time. We do not expect any decisions to be made as a result of our presenting this information; however, we hope to get feedback on the information and methodology that has been deployed.
Submitted by,
Jane Howington, City Manager
Scott N. Schroyer, Assistant City Manager
Jeff Knoblauch, Finance Director