By the end of the calendar year, the city of Starkville will have a five-year capital improvements plan.
Mayor Parker Wiseman is close to rounding up suggested improvements — prioritized from immediate need to long-term projects — from city department heads and aldermen. The suggestions will be forwarded to financial consultant Demery Grubbs, of the Jackson-based firm Government Consultants Inc., whom the city contracted earlier this year to help craft its master list and provide financial guidance.
City officials met with Grubbs in June and were instructed to compile the lists, which could include equipment and infrastructure needs and street projects, and what would require long-term financing.
Grubbs also worked with the city to determine the best financing option for its municipal facilities plan, ultimately advising the city to separate the plan into two phases. Phase 1, the $8.45 million bond issue for a new police station failed in a citywide bond referendum in September.
Wiseman expects an even proportion of ward-specific projects and citywide improvements.
“There may be some that take three to five years,” Wiseman said, “and there’ll be some that take 10 to 20 years to fund. This process will really benefit us because you’re looking at everything at once. There’s a tendency, if you don’t, to wait until a crisis develops or a big, expensive piece of equipment has broken down and become unusable.
“Ideally, you want to be proactive.”
Wiseman said Grubbs, who has also worked with Natchez and Alcorn County on similar plans, isn’t contracted to survey Starkville’s facilities or roads and provide his own suggestions; Grubbs will help set the capital improvements plan, analyze the city’s current budget and provide funding strategies.
Grubbs will work with Vice-Mayor Sandra Sistrunk, who crafted the current $16 million city budget, to develop funding strategies, which will include modifying future budgets and projecting future revenues to help fund projects.
“This is new,” Wiseman said. “It’s a goal of ours that we put forward in our strategic plan, to have a comprehensive capital improvements plan. It’s not an uncommon document for a local government to utilize, but we just haven’t had one here.”
Wiseman, who compiled his own list of capital improvements, said he focused on equipment needs for the street department and water department.
“Outside of facilities, those are our two biggest expenditures,” Wiseman said. “And from an infrastructure standpoint, the street program is your single biggest item.”
The police facilities remains an issue, and after receiving only 44.54 percent of the votes for the bond issue in September — the bond issue needed 60 percent yes votes to pass — Wiseman said another justice complex plan is at a “brainstorming phase.”
“We’re back at square one,” Wiseman said. “We’re looking at things that have transpired over the last decade with respect to that project. We’re also looking at how other communities have addressed a similar need.”
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