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The Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) is an adjunct to the Master Plan and like the Master Plan, it is strictly a planning document. The CIP committee is charged by the Planning Board to prepare an annual CIP to present to the Planning Board for approval and then to the Board of Selectmen and Budget Committee to aid them in preparing the annual budget. The CIP committee is made up of members from the Planning Board, Board of Selectmen, and the Budget Committee. The Planning Board chairman also serves as the CIP committee chairman. The Planning Coordinator and Town Manager support
the CIP committee in preparation of the plan.
The CIP has estimates of capital expenditures over a 6 year period; the plan prepared in calendar year 2007 has estimates for 2008 through 2013 and is used to help preparing the 2008 budget that is prepared for calendar year 2008 and voted on at the March, 2008 Town Meeting. The CIP committee also reviews the capital reserve accounts set up for the purchase of large expense items such as fire apparatus, highway department vehicles, and long term building maintenance. The purpose of the review is to make sure the balances in the accounts are sufficient to cover the planned expenses in the 6-year planning period.
The table below compares the proposed CIP totals with the budget totals (including warrant articles) and then calculates the percent of the total budget allocated for capital expenditures. The amounts shown reflect amounts proposed at Town Meeting and not those voted at Town Meeting. Also note that the amounts have been rounded to the nearest thousand dollars.
Year/Item |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
CIP Total |
$1091 |
$1103 |
$1081 |
$1105 |
$1350 |
$957 |
Budget Total |
$6080 |
$8022 |
$7068 |
$7521 |
$7644 |
$7479 |
Percent of CIP Total to Budget Total |
17.94% |
13.74% |
15.36% |
14.69% |
17.66% |
12.80% |
When a CIP is in place and maintained, it allows towns to impose impact fees on developers. The purpose of the impact fee is to charge an up front fee from developers, at occupancy permit time, a sum of money to help offset the additional capital expenditures required because of the new residential, commercial, or industrial growth. The Town of Plaistow has impacts fees in place for schools, recreation, public safety complex, fire suppression water line, and new subdivision roads.
The CIP also has two other important functions: maintain capital equipment and help to level the total budget. It is important to maintain our buildings so that small repairs can be made in a timely fashion and avoid large expenditures after problem that could have been fixed with a small repair, has deteriorated to the point where only a costly repair can fix the problem. This is turn avoids large increases in our tax bills. It is also important that our entire fleet of vehicles – rescue trucks, police cruisers, highway department trucks, etc. in good condition so that all employees can have confidence they will be able to perform their duties in a safe manner.
Respectfully submitted,
Timothy Moore
Chairman
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