2)a. 2023-2027 Priorities Memo
Date: August 5, 2022
For: Honorable Mayor and Council; Capital Investment Committee; City Staff
From: Colleen Firkus, Treasurer
Subject: Capital Investment Priorities
The process of using a Capital Investment Committee (CIC), consisting of city staff, and
representatives from the Council, Planning Commission, Park & Recs, and volunteer citizens, in
prioritizing and bringing capital needs to the Council budget process was started in 2007. The
use of the CIC in this budget process has waned over time and combining their meetings with
the Council is the current process.
Attached you will find a Projects by Department report which the City Administrator, Public
Works Director and Fire Chief have listed their departments’ capital expenditure needs for the
next five years and prioritized them. The Fire Dept. and Public Works Dept. have schedules of
truck and equipment replacements which are reflected in this report. The Fire Chief has noted
that the priority assigned is based on the year that the item is on the schedule for replacement
or purchase. Trucks and some types of equipment are always estimated as Urgent until near
their replacement date when they can be evaluated. Other items that are lower level may move
to urgent based on needs, availability of part or rapid deterioration. The actual replacement of
these items is reviewed by the Council prior to going to bid and purchase and may be moved up
or delayed depending on the functionality of the equipment at the time, and the availability of
funds. Attached is additional information on these projects (Master Fire CIP Plan, Fire 2023-
2027 CIP Reasoning, PW Vehicle CIP 2022-2032).
DEBT: Typically, the city has borrowed money for these purchases by taking out Equipment
Certificates through our local bank for a period of five to 10 years or by issuing bonds
negotiated through Northland Securities. The city currently has outstanding debt of $3,397,000,
which consists of $152,000 in Equipment Certificates and $3,245,000 for the 2018 Road Project
(p. 69 of 2021 Audited Financial Statements). The 2013 Equipment Certificate will be paid off in
2023; the 2017 Equipment Certificate will be paid off this year; the 2018 G.O. Bond will be paid
off in in 2033. The levies for this debt are set by state statute. Also, the township/city used to
take out a large G.O. Bond every other year for road projects, the last one prior to 2018 was in
2007 for $1,430,000 for 10 years. The city has a schedule of maintaining and reconstructing
paved road under our Pavement Management Plan prepared by our engineer. The city started a
Local Road Improvement Fund in 2015 with a levy of $627,157 and has moved away from
borrowing and have budgeted levies around $600,000 each year to fund an every other year
road project. Then in 2018 the city bonded $3,835,000 for a road project.
PRIORITIES: The city started using a capital planning software called PlanIt back in 2007. This
software is an important tool in the budget process to lay out the city’s capital expenditures
needs over 5 to 10 years and prioritize them. However, it is not possible for the city to pay for
every capital expenditure identified and so prioritizing those expenditures is a good tool to
identify what the city can responsibly pay for each year. Priorities change with Council
members and this tool makes available information on previously identified needs to future
Council members. The definition of a Capital Expenditure is typically something that costs
$5,000 or more and lasts for 5 or more years. The prioritization categories used by PlanIt are:
1. Urgent, High Priority
2. High Priority
3. Worthwhile
4. Low Priority
The focus should be on prioritizing the capital needs for the coming budget year and identifying
the sources of funding, keeping in mind future items that may require a shifting of priorities or
purchase years. The Fire Chief and Public Works Director have already prioritized their items for
the attached report. Terry Gorham will bring forth the Parks & Rec priorities at the next
meeting. Council and CIC members are asked to review the attached Projects by Department
report and consider what they think should be the city’s priorities for capital expenditures and
how funding them should be managed. The report Sources and Uses of Funds is also included
listing possible sources of revenue and the effect on fund balances as a starting point as to how
these items can be funded.
The reports are listed by Department with Project Names. The field space available for the
Project Name is limited, so I have included the Fire and Public Works reports referenced earlier.
If you need additional information on a project, please send a list of your questions to any of
the city staff below:
ADMIN – Ken Cammilleri at k.cammilleri@ci.scandia.mn.us
Colleen Firkus at c.firkus@ci.scandia.mn.us
FIRE – Mike Hinz at mike.hinz@scandiafire.com
PUBLIC WORKS – Charles Fischer at c.fischer@ci.scandia.mn.us
Including COMMUNITY CENTER, ROAD PROJECT, PARKS & REC
PARKS & RECREATION – Terry Gorham at tcgorham@midco.net