Council reviews capital projects fund; staff proposes borrowing cadence change

Staff presented the capital projects fund (Fund 52) line-item budget and explained how levy-funded projects, wages and surfacing expenses are reflected in the plan. The presenter said the council had discussed moving to an every-other-year borrowing schedule and, based on that approach, omitted borrowing costs for 2027 and anticipated borrowing in 2028 to cover projects for 2027–28.

"We had been talking about moving to an every other year borrowing," staff said, explaining the assumption that borrowing would occur in 2028 for the 2027–28 projects. Members asked questions about specific line items and the timing of purchases; staff said levy-funded wages and some surfacing work were included in the purple-coded cells in the packet and that the levy for the fund was noted in the materials.

Council directed staff to continue refining line items and to report back with any changes before the final budget adoption. The proposed capital plan will be reviewed alongside other budget components at subsequent meetings.