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Date: 4/11/2023
NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton City Council officially approved the five-year Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal years 2024-2028 during their meeting on March 30.
The ambitious proposal, which was first presented by Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra during the council’s March 16 meeting, highlights $116 million worth of capital improvement projects throughout the city to push Northampton further into the threshold of carbon neutrality by focusing on environmentally conscious replacements and improvements.
The 436-page document includes a little over $36 million allocated for FY24 from projected funding sources such as the Water Enterprise Fund Operating Budget, General Fund Bonds/ Borrowing, the Sewer Enterprise Fund Borrowing and more.
The council also unanimously approved a set of 10 different financial orders to help implement the CIP and move some of these projects forward, including the borrowing of $1.5 million for paving projects, the appropriation of $2.63 million in free cash for various capital projects and $975,000 from the Stabilization Fund for various capital projects.
Background
The CIP is reviewed and updated each year by the mayor in consultation with the city’s finance director, who in this case is Charlene Nardi. In each of these years, the mayor asks department heads to list their project priorities in order of importance. The mayor’s office and finance director then rank the requests from these departments and determines which ones should be addressed throughout the five years.
According to Sciarra, a capital improvement is a physical public improvement involving a facility, parcel of land or piece of major equipment with an estimated useful life of five or more years. These projects or items must also cost more than $10,000 and can be funded through available cash or borrowing.
The goal of this plan, according to Sciarra, was to push the city further into the threshold of carbon neutrality by focusing on environmentally conscious replacements and improvements, which is reflected in many of the capital improvement items, like public schools and vehicle replacements.
Major school projects
Sciarra spoke during the March 16 meeting about some of the major projects projected for the schools and city departments.
“For Northampton Public Schools, this five-year plan includes over $16 million in capital projects to be able to maintain our Northampton public school buildings, move them to carbon neutrality, as they are our largest source for fossil fuel use,” said Sciarra.
The Central Services Department is responsible for maintenance in all city buildings and schools. Major projects under public schools over the next five years include energy recovery ventilation construction at Jackson Street School and Leeds for better air quality in the 1950s wings.
“This is our greatest opportunity to lower greenhouse gas emissions,” Sciarra said. “Those 50s wings tend to be solid building envelopes that are very much worth preserving but need a bit of insulation.”
Appearing for the second year in a row is the 21st-century Classroom Technology project, which aims to help modernize classroom equipment and offer more interactive learning opportunities. The project is largely funded by the $500,000 gift from Smith College back in December 2021. The money can be used at the mayor’s discretion.
Other school projects, like roof replacement at the JFK Middle School for FY26 and FY27 totaling $3.5 million and the replacement of the gym roof at Bridge Street are also on top for the next five years.
“We’ve also continued to double the traffic calming and sidewalk budgets from previous years to $50,000 and we are continuing to invest in road repair and maintenance,” Sciarra added.
Changes to vehicles
Sciarra highlighted how she is making a commitment to making sure all vehicles moving forward are directed toward reducing the city’s carbon footprint.
“I made a commitment that when an energy-efficient or fossil fuel-free option is available [for vehicles], we will purchase that,” said Sciarra, who added that these vehicles often come at a higher cost.
With supply chain holdups and material increases, Sciarra said it was difficult acquiring new vehicles within the commonwealth. Many places in the state could only supply gas-powered vehicles, so the city went out of state to find hybrid and electric vehicles.
“We are continuing to explore all grant options and assistance for greening of fleets, and are trying to keep to that commitment,” Sciarra said.
The Police Department, for example, is on the cusp of receiving five hybrid cruisers this year at a total cost of $366,000. These cruisers will replace the five current cruisers that are most prone to failing.
According to Sciarra, these five vehicles are crucial to the Police Department’s primary fleet since maintenance costs and mileage for the current vehicles have skyrocketed. The city used to replace three police cruisers a year to keep the fleet running, but in FY21 and FY22, those replacements were completely cut from the budget – which means more vehicles are now in need of replacement.
Other notable projects
The Fire Department is also on tap to receive multiple vehicle replacements within the next five years, including a fire engine replacement in FY25 costing $1,000,000.
Additionally, there is a $10 million allocation in FY28 for the renovation/removal of the Florence fire station.
According to Fire Chief Jon Davine, the Florence station was built in 1972 and currently lacks separate bathrooms, separate living quarters or separate showers.
“We’re looking down the road to hopefully make some changes to that station so,” Davine said.
Other major allocations proposed include $7.5 million for street resurfacing over the next five years, as well as close to $27 million for improvements to the wastewater treatment plant and pump station.
There is also $7.9 million in FY24 allocated for reservoir construction and $8.2 million allocated in FY25 for transmission main rehabilitation.
Readers can view the full plan on the Northampton website: https://www.northamptonma.gov/2358/Capital-Improvement-Program.