A $1.95 billion capital improvement project program received support from Tempe City Council members during a presentation Thursday.
City staff spoke to council about the recommended five-year capital improvement program, going over expected projects to be completed, funding sources and acceleration strategies for accomplishing the city’s goals.
Lisette Camacho, deputy city manager and chief financial officer, Julie Hietter, interim municipal budget director, and Wydale Holmes, director of the strategic management and innovation office,gave a presentation on the initial recommendation during council’s March 20 work study session.
Camacho highlighted that the total five-year plan decreased by 0.5%, equating to about $9 million.
“That’s expected because, as you all know, when we developed the current adopted CIP, we used that as the basis for the amount of the general obligations bond election last November,” Camacho said.
She said there were few changes in the proposed program’s first four years and with the addition of another fiscal year, staff provided department targets for their cash-funded and general obligation bond funded projects for fiscal year 2030.
Their presentation also touched on outreach the city conducted in February and March, seeking resident input about how the city should invest in advancing its strategic performance measures.
In one survey, residents reported on average the most relevant priorities in order of importance were quality of life, safe and secure communities, sustainable growth and development, financial stability and vitality, and strong community connections, Hietter said.
Hietter also highlighted residents’ responses about how they would spend the city’s money to support those goals, with the top responses including homeless services, multimodal transportation, improving and expanding affordable housing and more.
The Mayor’s Youth Advisory Commission also provided answers to the same survey, reporting the same average response for the priorities targeted for investment. For specific services, Hietter noted there were six that overlapped with the resident responses.
“These six included homelessness and affordable housing, city infrastructure, public safety and crime prevention and multi-modal transportation,” Hietter said.
Financing projects
Hietter went on to discuss funding for the five-year capital plan, which showed minor changes from the adopted plan in terms of where the funding comes from.
She showed the recommended program is largely supported by general obligation bonds, most recently approved by Tempe voters in the November 2024 election.
This election sought voter approval to issue and sell $581.5 million in bonds to enhance the community through public safety and road improvements, improve quality of life in neighborhoods, and increase the amount of affordable housing.
Some funding outside of bonds comes from enterprise bonds, special revenue funds and general governmental cash funds. Camacho noted while there are some alternatives, there are some restrictions as to how the city spends its budget.
In regard to the general governmental funds, she said they do use cash to save on interest expenses, but in those cases, it does compete with Tempe’s operating budget as general fund dollars are the primary source.
“We are recommending to suspend cash funding of the capital improvement projects for the general fund and also the transit fund and the arts and culture fund, due to the loss of the residential rental sales tax revenue,” Camacho said.
Acceleration models
City staff also discussed the current acceleration models recommended to help advance or achieve Tempe’s performance measures of ending homelessness, improving the housing inventory ratio, increasing feelings of safety in neighborhoods, police services satisfaction and the pavement quality index.
Holmes said developing these strategies is done through collaboration of the strategy department, its partners from other city departments and members of the community.
With homelessness a top priority for the city and residents, she said strategies to support that goal consist of reducing encampment response time, increasing case management engagements, increasing housing resolutions and increasing permanent housing connections.
Other strategies include focusing on mixed-use, high-density areas to attract development, conducting crime and traffic suppression operations, increasing police training and reducing response time to road improvement issues.
Holmes stressed the importance of communication and collaboration between city departments and the community to accomplish their goals.
“I highlight that because we know that all these performance measures are achieved through multiple department approaches, and it’s not just one singular department,” Holmes said.
The mayor and council discussed the presentation, expressing support for performance measures outlined and the proposed acceleration models supporting them.
Councilmember Berdetta Hodge did raise a point about informing residents of upcoming pavement improvement projects on every Tempe street, which were supported by voters in the most recent bond election.
She questioned whether the neighborhoods would be informed, given that project will tackle even residential streets
“We just had a conversation and we will have signs on every project thanking our residents for trusting us with the bond and that this is happening now,” said City Manager Rosa Inchausti.
Holmes also noted during the discussion the city will keep residents updated on the progress of street improvements and other capital projects that are ongoing through a digital platform.
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Meet Caroline Caroline Yu joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2020 as a summer intern covering Scottsdale. As an intern, she continued her coverage of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Tempe. After graduating in 2022, Caroline became a full-time reporter for Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. She is currently reporting for the Tempe market.
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“That’s expected because, as you all know, when we developed the current adopted CIP, we used that as the basis for the amount of the general obligations bond election last November,” Camacho said.
Holmes said developing these strategies is done through collaboration of the strategy department, its partners from other city departments and members of the community.
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