Town Council candidates address the fourth in a series of questions to be posed by The Times ahead of the upcoming council election in March.

The question this week concerns capital improvement priorities.

Hugh Henry: On Feb. 11 at 5:30 p.m., the town administration is holding a planning session regarding capital expenditures.

The $9 million available at that time currently looks realistic after this year’s expenditures.  Detailed discussions will be held on the $4.5 million to pave Saguaro from Shea Boulevard to El Largo.

I am very much in favor of proceeding with this project, however, we must find out the total amount of encumbrances for future years against the $9 million.

The finance department will offer more than one suggestion on how this can be accomplished.

Any item that is not a safety issue, I would suggest be postponed indefinitely. If we are lucky, there may not be any tax increases needed to accomplish some of the solutions.

Henry Leger: Capital projects are driven by the town’s 20-year capital plan and paid for through our capital fund. The primary source of revenue for the capital fund is construction sales tax, budget surpluses and grants.

Currently we are confronted with a standstill in construction and do not anticipate operating fund surpluses in the near term. Additionally, our town will continue to experience a drop in state shared revenue, which will have an adverse effect on funding new capital projects in FY10/11.

Although we have a healthy capital fund at this time, I do not believe spending down the fund on multiple new projects is prudent, particularly with little revenue being generated to replenish the fund. Additionally, we may need to utilize our capital fund to help cover general operating costs in the future if the economy does not improve.

My stance is to “proceed with caution,” as we did this year, and continue to address projects in the pipeline that are funded primarily through grant and stimulus money, such as the widening of Shea Blvd.

In terms of priorities, the capital project that I believe is critical to address in FY10/11 is the funding of our annual pavement management program to sustain the integrity of our streets. This includes slurry-sealing and general street repair, which lengthens the life of our streets. This is critical to prevent further deterioration in our roads, which could wind up costing us more in the long run.

Mike Archambault: Money is tight and capital improvements are expensive. One of the duties of our Community Affairs and Media Relations Administrator (CAMRA) is to research grant opportunities that help leverage our dollars.

With this in mind the council has given its approval to leverage as much as $2.5 million each year so as to capitalize on beneficial grant opportunities for our community.

The town has allocated $130,000 to the Shea climbing lane improvement and is receiving $3.2 million from an ADOT grant, federal stimulus money and a smaller additional grant. This improvement will cost a total of $3.3 million and will improve our front door appearance. We are also waiting on word of a FEMA grant application for the Shea fire station location, which should fund the entire project.

Maintenance of town infrastructure is another key priority and should be funded with great care. We must not let maintenance get ahead of us or else we’ll pay a greater price down the road.

I believe the council has been proactive and frugal with our short reserves while maximizing the value for citizens.

As we all have experienced with our personal budgets, there is far more demand for projects than we have money to fund. When residential and commercial activities pick up and return to previous levels, so too will the capital improvement fund begin to replenish so revenue is available for future grant opportunities and projects.

We must be cautious not to deplete our Capital Improvement Fund to the point that we miss out on grants that could save the citizens tax dollars in the future.

Ginny Dickey: With capital improvement projects ranging from downtown enhancements to public safety, it isn’t hard to imagine using the entire $9 million fund to benefit the community, given our needs. However, keeping in mind that a mechanism for replenishing the funds, construction sales tax, has been considerably diminished by the current economy, we must carefully select what we attempt to accomplish next year. We will likely allow projects totaling around $2.5 million to be addressed.

The most obvious and pressing infrastructure weakness is the condition of our roads. While some of the costs will be covered by grants, we must rely on capital and HURF funds for proper pavement management. I will likely support moving ahead with that, particularly after the damage from recent storms.

Sidewalks, traffic signal work and park expansion are in the mix, but to me, building the fire station on Shea is a priority. While I appreciate the temporary ambulance service to the southwest part of town, it does not take the place of response to a fire, and fails to entirely alleviate the unbalanced use of resources from the other stations.

We are still very much in the running to receive stimulus funds since our project, a LEED-certified fire station in an underserved area of the community, is totally designed, we own the property, is ready to go and we are providing a percentage of matching funds.

But if we do not get the grant, I believe we should still consider this public safety project.

Tait Elkie: Money is tight to say the least. In light of the current economy, the town should closely scrutinize any expenditure from the capital improvements fund and delay spending on projects that are unrelated to maintaining and improving upon the community infrastructure. 

The town may have approximately $9 million in the capital improvement fund, but future revenues are projected to decline significantly. 

For FY2009-10 the town budgeted for $10 million in revenues and $12 million in capital projects expenditures. At the mid-way point of this fiscal year, the budgeted $10 million in revenues is now projected to be approximately $4 million with only $676,224 having been received thus far. 

It is also important to note that $3.2 million of the $4 million projected revenues are stimulus funds that may only be used on specific projects.

There are some current projects that need to be finished to avoid loss of funding or violating contractual obligations, however, other projects should be considered on a case by case basis and those that are not immediately necessary should be delayed.

The recent rains have deteriorated major streets even more, and this is a project that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. The town should expedite its efforts in exploring all possible funding solutions to restore our failing infrastructure.

Without question the town needs to be fiscally conservative in all aspects of spending, but it needs to be extra vigilant when it comes to expenditures from the capital improvements fund.