The Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) is a financial tool that indicates the City Council's priorities for the physical assets of the City when the City departments prepare their budgets. The draft of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-2025 CIP was presented to the City Council at the November 18, 2019 work session.  The CIP was again discussed at the December 2, 2019 work session.  A public hearing was heard at the December 9, 2019 Council business meeting.  Following the public hearing, City Council approved the FY 2021-2025 CIP, excluding the CIP for the Parks and Recreation Department.  

During the December 2, 2019 work session, Council directed staff to delay the $25 million South Billings Aquatic/Recreation Center project from FY 21 to FY 22.  This modification was proposed at the December 9, 2019 Council meeting and is again a recommended modification to the Parks and Recreation Department's CIP.  In consideration of Council's comments at the December 9, 2019 meeting, staff is proposing additional modifications to the Parks and Recreation Department's draft CIP.  These modifications are based on revising two components of the revenue assumptions for Park District 1 (PD 1) assessments.  The first, is to remove the $400,000 recoupment of lost purchasing power due to keeping the PD 1 assessment amount at a stagnant amount since the inception of PD 1.  This will reduce the PD 1 funding by $2,000,000 for the five-year CIP.  The following are the proposed projects to be modified to incorporate this change in the revenue assumption:

• Riverfront Park Road and Parking Lot Repairs
  • Move $400,000 from FY 21 and $400,000 from FY 22 to FY 25
• Swords Rimrock Park Road and Parking Lot Repairs
  • Move $400,000 from FY 23 to FY 25
• South Park Pool Renovation
  • Split project into phases and reduce FY 25 amount by $2 million.

The second proposed revision to the revenue assumptions for PD 1 is the elimination of the park development funding.  This will reduce the PD 1 funding by $3,999,000 over the five years.  The park development projects that would be eliminated are:

• Coulson Park Development Phase 1 ($333,000 in FY 21)
• Poly Vista Development ($666,000 in FY 22, $1 million in FY 23, and $1 million in FY 24)
• Centennial Park Development Phase 2 ($1 million in FY 25)

Staff is recommending annual inflationary adjustments to the PD 1 assessments beginning in FY 21 to maintain purchasing power going forward.  In addition to this change, City Administration will be recommending moving the entire Parks and Recreation budget out of the General Fund and into PD 1 beginning in the FY 21 budget.  This shift will require an increase in the PD 1 assessment of $3,500,000.  The full cost of these changes is estimated to be $74 per year on a home valued at $200,000.  This is an increase of approximately $47 from the current annual amount.  This proposed shift of the Parks and Recreation budget will not be considered as part of the CIP adoption, but merely specified for transparency.

The CIP is a funding plan and does not appropriate any budget authority.  Both appropriations (legal authorizations to expend money) and revenue increases are accomplished through the budget process.  Thus, if Parks and Recreation Department's FY 2021-2025 CIP is approved as recommended and any of these assumptions are not realized, affected projects will need to be delayed or eliminated. A copy of the CIP is on file in the City Clerk's Office and posted on the City's website.  Council is being asked to consider final adoption of Parks and Recreation's FY 2021 to FY 2025 CIP. 

City Council may:

• Adopt the Parks and Recreation's CIP as presented; or,
• Take no action which will not allow the items in the Parks and Recreation's CIP to be included in the City's budget for FY 2021; or,
• Amend the Parks and Recreation's CIP to include any desired projects and changes, and adopt the CIP as amended; or,
• Defer action to a later Council meeting.

The FY 2021 budget for Parks and Recreation's proposed CIP would result in expenditures totaling $2,589,978.  The projects in the CIP are identified and proposed by staff.  However, Council amendments and the availability of funds in FY 2021 and future years could affect the actual costs of the projects in the CIP. 

Staff recommends that Council approve Parks and Recreation Department's FY 2021 to FY 2025 CIP.