(Columbus) The Columbus City Council got their first look at the five-year Capital Improvement Plan at a recent committee meeting. City Administrator Matt Amundson says one of the big reasons for this plan is because municipal advisory firm Ehlers is looking to do financial forecasting for future borrowing.
“This is going to be a critical piece for any large item that we look at such as a public safety building,” says Amundson. “Whether that’s renovations to existing, upgrades to existing, or new facilities. These are critical pieces structuring out our future debt and understanding what we can and can’t do.”
Alderwoman Sarah Motiff wondered why there were not any numbers for utility in the plan.
“It’s known that they need a new station one, they are already on a vehicle rotation,” Motiff says. “We know that wastewater has upgrades that are needed.”
Amundson says the easiest answer is that the utility commission has those numbers, and the numbers have been talked about.
“I think it was right that they wanted to talk through those with the utility commission first before it made this document, and they weren’t ready for that at the July meeting,” says Amundson. “The plan is to be ready for that, as much as possible, for the August meeting.”
The city administrator says there are some wastewater numbers that are tough to calculate because there is a decision to be made whether to invest in the collection system versus the plant. The next step for city staff is to finalize the draft plan and submit it to Ehler’s.
