Is your local government planning for the future? A capital improvement plan (CIP) helps a local government take a critical look at itself, identify what is good, what could be improved and what opportunities for new projects exist. The CIP provides several benefits to local communities and counties. Those without a CIP may proceed with no solid priorities or direction for community development and community betterment.

The CIP process takes time, but it offers a good return on the investment and a wealth of benefits.

Join the NCRPC for a workshop presented by Beth Tatarko of Austin-Peters on Capital Improvement for Local Government on Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 9 a.m. at 803 Valley Street in Concordia. The workshop is sponsored in part by the Kansas Association of Regional Development Organizations with support from USDA Rural Development.

Click here for the workshop flyer for additional details or to share with other representatives and officials from your city and county departments.

A capital improvement plan…

1. Provides a framework for decisions about area growth and development. Planning for water, sewer, transportation, public safety and recreation are as important to those who develop residential, commercial and industrial tracts as they are to public officials who regulate land use.
2. Helps preserve existing property values. A well-maintained infrastructure directly affects neighborhood property values and indirectly influences owners to better maintain their private property.
3. Acts as an effective administrative tool. It can help elected and appointed officials make more productive use of their time. It provides a “window” into the future, helps prevent surprises and reduces the time necessary for crisis management. It also provides a control mechanism for judging departmental spending requests.
4. Serves as a community education tool. Citizens who are informed about a community’s overall needs and priorities for improvement can more readily understand why particular projects are implemented and others are postponed.
5. Enhances opportunities for outside financial assistance. The existence of a plan affords time to explore funding alternatives from state, federal and local sources. These sources and bond underwriters look more favorably on a community with a strategy for its capital investments.
6. Promotes a more efficient government operation. Coordination of capital projects can reduce scheduling problems and conflicts among several projects, thereby saving time and money. As many of you know, working on water lines in coordination with street surfacing saves time and overall expense if done simultaneously.
7. Helps distribute costs more equitably over a longer period of time. This avoids the need to impose a “crisis” rate and tax increases.
8. Focuses community attention on priority goals, needs and capabilities. A project may seem very desirable when considered independently; however, when included in a comprehensive plan in which it competes with other projects for limited funding, it may appear less important.