7.3. SR 01-17-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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II. PURPOSE A capital improvement is a major expenditure of municipal funds for the acquisition or betterment to public lands, buildings, or other improvements used as a city hall, town hall, library, public safety, or public works facility, which has a useful life of 5 years or more. For the purposes of the CIP Act, capital improvements do not include light rail transit or related activities, parks, road bridges, administrative buildings other than city or town hall, or land for those facilities. A Capital Improvement Plan ("CIP") is a document designed to anticipate capital improvement expenditures and schedule them over afive-year period so that they may be purchased in the most efficient and cost effective method possible. A CIP allows the matching of expenditures with anticipated income. As potential expenditures are reviewed, the municipality considers the benefits, costs, alternatives and impact on operating expenditures. The City of Elk River, Minnesota (the "City") believes the capital improvement process is an important element of responsible fiscal management. Major capital expenditures can be anticipated and coordinated so as to minimize potentially adverse financial impacts caused by the timing and magnitude of capital outlays. This coordination of capital expenditures is important to the City in achieving its goals of adequate physical assets and sound fiscal management. In these financially difficult times good planning inessential for the wise use of limited financial resources. The Capital Improvement Plan is designed to be updated on a regular basis. In this manner, it becomes an ongoing fiscal planning tool that continually anticipates future capital expenditures and funding sources. III. THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLANNING PROCESS The process begins with analysis of the City's five-year capital improvement needs and funding sources. The City may solicit- input from citizens and other governmental units at an early stage, if desired. The City Council then directs staff or consultants to prepare a plan that sets forth the estimated schedule, timing and details of specific capital improvements by year, together with the estimated cost, the need for the improvement, and the sources of revenue for the improvement. The City Council then holds a public hearing on the CIP, with notice published not more than 30 days and not less than seven days for the hearing (except as City of Elk River CIP for Financing Purposes Page 4