Council Plans for Upcoming City Projects
Oskaloosa City Hall
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Roads, sewers and maybe some renovations to the fire department’s building. That’s what’s up next in capital improvements for the city of Oskaloosa.
The city council met in a work session Monday night to discuss what big projects it wants to see included in the city’s five-year plan. CRI asked City Manager Michael Schrock what city projects are next and how Oskaloosa will pay for them.
A city can have some big needs. Roads need to be maintained, police and fire departments need updated equipment, and buildings need to be safe places for staff members. But when the city needs high-cost items, it may take more than is in the city’s coffers. That’s why Schrock says, it’s important to plan ahead.
“If you don’t want to go out and issue debt and you don’t have enough money sitting in the bank to pay for a new project, what you do is save up each year until you do have enough money to do that project,” says Schrock.
The biggest improvements the city makes every year are for roads and sewer. Schrock says this will be the case throughout the 5-year capital improvements plan.
“For this year, next year, the council’s priority has and will continue to be infrastructure-related projects. So for this fiscal year, fiscal year 2013, we plan to spend about $2.5 to $2.6 million dollars on roads,” says Schrock.
That’s about 60 percent of what the city spends on all capital improvements. But that money doesn’t all come from property tax revenue. This year, the city received about $1.2 million dollars from the Local Option Sales Tax, a one-penny tax on every dollar spent by consumers, that the city then spends on road improvements.
“We do that because it has a lower impact on residents and property owners than if we went out and bonded for it. The nice thing about that is we don’t see our debt go up. We don’t have those longer term debt obligations that you see other cities have,” says Schrock.
Some big ticket items on the city’s to-do list are for the Oskaloosa Fire Department. This building at 213 1st Street is where the fire department keeps some of its equipment. It’s also where the Oskaloosa Water Department does its business. The building is deteriorating and the cost to repair it is estimated to be greater than the building is worth.
“The fire department has a need for storage space for their equipment so we’re going to have an architect come in and talk to us about what those options might be for a newer facility or at least an addition to the facility.”
When a decision is made and costs are estimated, the price of the renovated building will then be added into the City of Oskaloosa’s five-year plan for capital improvements.
Schrock will take the council’s input from Monday’s work session and create his recommendation for the city’s budget, which will then be presented to the council on January 28th.
