Maple Grove Focuses on Capital Improvement Plan
Just like your personal budget process, city leaders in Maple Grove are trying to plan for the future as best they can. The city is updating its Capital Improvement Plan moving into 2025.
Maple Grove is updating its Capital Improvement Plan to track and plan for capital expenses like new equipment, road construction, and facilities costs.
“Doing capital planning for the city is a long-term type of project,” said City Administrator Heidi Nelson. “We’re really looking out five, ten, and even 30 years when it comes to our street reconstruction program, and so having those projections out, many years ahead, allows us to plan ahead for when we need to buy that new piece of fire apparatus or reinvest in a fire station or the Government Center.”
When it comes to roads, city leaders hope to have a better idea very soon about what needs to be prioritized.
“We’re going to be taking a closer focus on our road reconstruction program next year with the council,” said Finance Director Greg Sticha. “Taking a look at are the current conditions acceptable? Do we need to do better? Can we maybe take it easy on some improvements–as well as finding the appropriate funding sources for those going forward. Having council give us their feedback on what they they believe to be the appropriate funding sources to make those improvements.”
He said planning like this is essential for being able to respond when needs–or even unplanned events–occur.
“Avoiding those large fluctuations year-to-year is very important. That’s when your businesses and residents start to question what’s going on,” Sticha said. “Just keep it smooth, keep it consistent.”
“I think as a resident or a business owner, as a taxpayer in this community, having a well-developed CIP, that predicts out what costs are going to be for the city, allows us to plan ahead for those things,” said Nelson. “I think the better a city plans ahead for its capital needs, just like for its operating dollars, the less burden we can put on taxpayers and have those costs be a little bit more predicted.”
