Nampa council approves FY27 capital budget after trimming $1.1M of discretionary items for possible street work

The Nampa City Council approved broad FY2027 capital budget authority on a department‑by‑department basis Tuesday after extended presentations from staff and a string of roll‑call votes.

Council approved project authorizations across facilities, development services, parks, police, water and other divisions while extracting three line items to be held for possible reallocation toward street and deferred‑maintenance work: a $145,000 Lake View gazebo in the parks tab, a $486,850 FY27 installment for the scattering garden at the cemetery, and a $500,000 general‑government contribution that had been proposed for an airport terminal remodel. City staff said the three pulls, together with prior year allocations associated with the scattering garden, create roughly $1.1 million that council can reassign by amendment once staff confirms how and when it can be spent.

"This budget is the work combined work of Chris Boaz partnering with all of the departments who generate their particular budgetary requests," said Doug, a city staff presenter, as he opened the meeting. Chris Boaz, the city’s capital and grants manager, walked council through funding sources — including general government, grants and impact fees — and the five‑year capital work plan that informed the FY27 book.

Council members repeatedly framed decisions around a single question: whether to prioritize deferred infrastructure maintenance or continue funding smaller amenity projects. Council President Bills urged pooling some discretionary items to advance high‑priority street and water projects; Councilman Griffin and others pushed for a similar reallocation strategy.

Several itemized approvals recorded unanimous or near‑unanimous roll calls. The facilities budget (which included $1.37 million in facilities work and almost $900,000 proposed to repair and replace IH2C roof and HVAC systems) was approved after council directed staff to proceed with bidding so work could begin sooner if possible. Building safety vehicle replacements, the CDBG grant program ($575,553), police vehicle and equipment requests and 911 fund items also moved forward with recorded roll‑call approvals.

On cemetery work, parks staff said the scattering garden plans were out to bid and that construction had not started. Council voted 4–1 to remove the FY27 scattering garden allocation and reallocate it into the streets bucket; staff said they would keep design work and bids intact so council could revisit the item later if capacity or priorities change.

Staff repeatedly cautioned that budgetary approval is not the same as spending authorization for projects over $50,000, which must return to council for final approval. "This is the approval is for the authority to budget, not the authority to spend," Boaz told council. Staff also warned that some projects — particularly larger construction items — are affected by timing and weather and might be scheduled in a later fiscal year even if the budget authority is approved.

Next steps: staff will prepare budget amendments and implementation plans for the bucketed funds and will report back with recommendations on which projects can be executed in FY27 given staffing and contractor capacity.