Administration says $72 million rail‑trust disbursement boosts city capital plan

Assistant City Manager Billy Weber told the committee that the city will receive $72,000,000 from the Southern Railway Trust this year, an amount he described as an "exceptional leap" compared with prior years when the city received roughly $25–26 million annually.

"We know that we are getting $72,000,000 from the rail board this year now based on their latest decision," Weber said, noting the figure exceeds the earlier fiscal 28 projection of about $57,000,000. He said the additional funds are driving updates to the city's six‑year Capital Improvement Program and giving the administration new options to accelerate work on roads, sidewalks, recreation centers and other capital priorities.

Weber outlined that the Southern Railway Trust funding is one of several capital sources feeding the city's CIP and said the city will continue to use performance management goals to prioritize allocations. He emphasized the manager will recommend allocations in the fiscal 2028 budget based on departmental capacity to deploy funds and the programmatic need demonstrated to the rail board.

The administration shared that the CIP's average annual investment in existing infrastructure rose from about $50,000,000 (FY2015–FY2025) to approximately $95,000,000 in the most recent year, a trend that reflects the new rail proceeds and other one‑time revenue adjustments. Weber said council will see a recommended fiscal 2028 capital budget in May and that additional rail resources could be factored into those deliberations.

Next steps: the administration will integrate the rail trust disbursement into the fiscal 2028 CIP development and return to council with recommended allocations, performance targets and the rank‑ordered needs the administration used when presenting to the rail board.