A capital improvement program (CIP) is a blueprint for planning a community's public capital spending and is one of the most important responsibilities of municipal government. The CIP compiles all City projects to be budgeted in the next two years or planned for over the next six years The CIP deals with the physical improvement or replacement of City-owned infrastructure and facilities. Capital improvements are projects with a useful life of fifteen or more years that maintain, upgrade or replace public infrastructure and public service providing facilities.. This program attempts to set funding strategies not only for the first two years, but also to project future needs for major construction projects and land acquisition. The City constantly looks ahead on how we will improve major items such as roads, utilities, police, fire, parks and other community buildings for the people of Lincoln. Capital expenditures are viewed not only in the context of how much the new project will cost, but also what impact the project will have on the City's operating budget.
The CIP is not intended to be an all-inclusive inventory of the City of Lincoln's capital needs for the upcoming six years. It is a document that outlines planned capital improvements, given available financial resources.
A CIP has the following benefits:
- Facilitates coordination between capital needs and the operating budgets.
- Enhances the community's credit rating, control of its tax rate, and avoids sudden changes in its debt service requirements.
- Identifies the most economical means of financing capital projects.
- Increases opportunity for obtaining federal and state aid.
- Relates public facilities to other public and private development and redevelopment policies and plans.
- Focuses attention on community objectives and fiscal capacity.
- Keeps the public informed about future needs and projects.
- Coordinates the activities of neighborhood and overlapping units of local government to reduce duplication.
- Encourages careful project planning and design to avoid costly mistakes and help a community reach desired goals.