City’s capital program plans for future projects

Whitefish’s five-year capital improvement program plan calls for funding 124 projects at an estimated total cost of $61.9 million.

City Council recently adopted the document, which plans for the construction and financing of major projects in the city for fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 2025.

Finance Director Ben Dahlman said the capital plan is a planning tool that allows the city to align the project needs with the available funding sources over time.

“This helps us prioritize capital projects moving forward in the future,” he said. “The capital improvement plan document is flexible so in the event that there is another project that comes in, you’ll know which other projects need to be delayed to accommodate that one so that’s why it’s good as a planning tool.”

The city updates its capital improvement plan every few years listing the needed investments in capital facilities and equipment expected in the next five years. All specific purchases or projects still have to be approved.

One of the biggest changes in the city’s fiscal year 2021 budget, which was recently approved, is the sunset of the city’s tax increment finance district. That provided more than $1.1 million in additional property tax revenue without increasing property taxes.

The capital plan proposes that $250,000 of that amount be reserved on an annual basis for capital improvements for the police, fire, and parks and recreation departments.

More than 85% of the project costs in the plan are related to wastewater treatment plant upgrades to meet state and federal standards, other wastewater system improvements, street reconstruction projects funded by resort tax collections and necessary water system improvements including the expansion of the water treatment plant.

The first year of the capital plan is included in the fiscal year 2021 budget. The city saw an increase in spending in that budget of about $10 million over the previous year, just from those two projects.

The total project cost for the city’s new wastewater treatment plant is $24.8 million. The cost of construction for the water plant expansion project totals $9.3 million.

Water and wastewater projects make up the bulk of the capital plan. Water accounts for $23.8 million in estimated spending and wastewater about $20 million.

The city expects to spend $8.5 million on resort tax projects. This includes work like the reconstruction of State Park Road, East Edgewood, Karrow Avenue and Denver Avenue.

It also includes improvements to several parks, facilities and bike paths. Scheduled for this year are improvements to Armory Park, including $80,000 for a playground, $120,000 for bike path connections and $40,000 for a well for irrigation.

The capital plan expects to spend $1.7 million for the fire and ambulance departments primarily for vehicle purchases.

The city has budgeted this year to purchase a new ambulance at a cost of $200,000. Future major purchases include spending more than $1 million total on two fire engines.

For bike and pedestrian paths, the total estimated cost in the capital improvement plan is $1.7 million. This includes the $1.6 million set to be spent on construction of a shared use paved path and the Baker Avenue pedestrian underpass near Depot park to create a link between the Railway District and downtown.

The parks and recreation department plans to spend an estimated $730,000 on capital projects over the next five years.

The largest chunk of that is for improvements to Armory Park at about $285,000 scheduled for this fiscal year. Funds for the project come from a Land and Water Conservation Grant, resort tax and city stormwater funds.

For the parks department, the plan also expects to spend $56,000 on repair of the roof at the Roy Duff Memorial Armory this year.