The Capital Budget consists of projects where funding is appropriated by the Board of Commissioners (BOC) for the fiscal year. The 5-Year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) includes the projects contained in the Capital Budget, as well as future year (FY25-28) projects where funds have not been appropriated by the BOC. Both the Capital Budget and 5-Year CIP are reviewed and adopted annually by the BOC based on needs identified during the budget process.

The remainder of this section provides:

· The Process for submitting, evaluating, and funding capital projects

· An overview of the Capital Budget, including funded projects and funding sources

· An overview of the 5-Year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)

· Details on each capital project contained in the Capital Budget, including a project description, budget, operating impacts, among others.

Submitting Projects

Departments submit projects annually during the County’s budget process. In general, a capital project has the following characteristics:

1. Has a value of $100,000 or more,

2. Has a useful life of five years or more, and

3. Covers more than one fiscal year from project planning to completed construction or acquisition.

The annual operating budget must have sufficient funding to meet any staffing and operating costs related to capital projects. Any identified costs associated with capital projects are reflected in the corresponding fiscal year(s) in the County’s 5-Year Financial Plan.

Evaluating Projects

Generally, successful projects result from a needs assessment, align to strategic priorities, and have sufficient funding. A team of county staff review projects based on the following criteria:

1. Mandate – is the project required to meet Federal, State, contractual; or compliance mandates/requirements; or safety risks?

2. Quality of Life Impact – does the project improve community quality of life (QOL)?

3. Urgency – does the project require funding in the next year?

4. Operating Budget Impact – does the project increase/decrease the operating budget?

5. Service Delivery Impact – does the project improve or increase service delivery?

6. Strategic Alignment – does the project align to one or more of the Board's strategic priorities?

Funding Projects

The County funds capital projects in two primary ways:

1. Pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) – the County maximizes the use of PAYGO funding for capital projects to reduce the need for debt financing. PAYGO funds come from two primary sources:

a. General Fund Excess Available Fund Balance – Board policy maintains an unassigned fund balance equal to 15% of general fund expenditures. Following the completion of the annual financial audit, any unassigned fund balance above 15% is typically transferred to the Capital Projects Fund for capital projects. The amount available varies from year-to-year.

b. Community Investment Fund (CIF) Pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) – in FY20, the Board established the Community Investment Fund (CIF) as a sub-fund of the General Fund. The CIF provides a dedicated and sustainable source of funding for debt and generates capacity for future capital projects. The CIF contains restricted revenues, expenses, and fund balance. Through the CIF, the County appropriates $1.5 million annually.

2. Debt Financing – while the County would prefer to fund all projects with cash, significant and growing capital needs require responsible debt financing. The County issues debt every other year in the even-numbered years to fund capital projects.

Overview of the Capital Budget

The FY24 Capital Budget consists of 22 individual projects totaling $198,452,692. (13 projects totaling $180,000,000 funded through debt. and 9 projects funded via pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) sources totaling $18,452,692). Funding has been appropriated within the General Fund and Capital Projects Funds by the Board of Commissioners for the following PAYGO projects:

Since the County issues debt every other year in the even-numbered years to fund capital projects, the following shows the Debt Funded projects for FY24:

Overview of the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)

The 5-Year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) consists of the current year appropriations for the Capital Budget and planned projects for the next four fiscal years. Funding appropriated within the Capital Budget addresses 13 individual debt funded projects totaling $180,000,000 and 9 pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) projects totaling $18,452,692. An additional 17 Pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) projects are envisioned for fiscal years 2025 through 2028 and beyond at an estimated cost of $19,629,000. In addition 22 projects have been identified for funding in the next four debt issuance years. Cost of these projects are currently shown as "TBD" awaiting the completion of programming and schematic design. The table below summarizes the adopted 5-Year CIP: