The City of Medford has updated its Capital Improvement Plan to help guide long term development, infrastructure, and open space investments for the next six years, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn announced.
With guidance from Director of Municipal Services Sarah Concannon at the Collins Center for Public Management at UMass Boston, the administration worked with the finance team to craft a capital investment strategy based on financial forecasts and projected revenue resources. Once that was completed, departments were then tasked with developing long-term needs and priorities that could be sustained under the CIP.
In total, the plan includes over 200 projects totaling more than $170 million—the bulk of which are water and sewer improvements, road repairs and reconstructions, school projects and parks and open spaces renovations. The CIP projects will be funded through multiple sources including American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) monies, Enterprise Fund, free cash, CDBG, CPA and debt services.
“Prior to my time as Mayor, the City lacked a robust and comprehensive capital project strategy which limited the scope of our infrastructure work and created a backlog of needed investments in many City services,” Mayor Lungo-Koehn said. “We are building upon the initial Capital Improvement Plan released in 2021, adding new infrastructure projects and leveraging funding to expand our climate resiliency. It was apparent that developing the initial six-year plan, and now an updated plan, was and is critical to our long-term growth and progress. This document is the result of countless hours of hard work from our finance team, department heads, Chief of Staff Nina Nazarian, Sarah Concannon at the Collins Center and myself. It outlines over 200 projects we’re planning to undertake, funding sources and will serve as our guide for the next six years.”
While the plan is finalized, the CIP is a living document that will be adjusted accordingly and requires ongoing review and management which will be done by the City’s Finance Director Bob Dickinson.
By finalizing and adopting a long-term CIP, the administration is avoiding potential negative impacts on public health and safety that often occur without a living, tangible document in place to help guide projects. In many instances, municipalities without a Capital Improvement Plan face exposure to legal liability, staffing inefficiency and ineffectiveness, costly emergency repairs and more.
The City has tasked the Collins Center with creating an updated project report. In the meantime a presentation on the updated CIP can be found here.
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