The city of Jefferson now has a document in place that will help focus on different projects.

The City Council approved at their one December meeting to adopt a five-year Capital Improvement Plan as a guiding document. City Administrator Scott Peterson says items that are a part of this plan include large-scale projects as well as maintenance projects, and equipment replacements. Peterson notes the larger scope items would be a water plant replacement, library expansion and possibly the expansion of gym space for the Greene County Community Center.

“Those projects – again very, very large projects – are all addressed through the plan because you want to have some guidance in place about when they might occur. So that you can really work on what was the other half of the plan is the financial side of the plan.” 

Peterson explains that the financial aspects are identified with every project, as he details that most maintenance projects can be done through existing city funds or Local Option Sales and Services Tax (LOSST), as well as issuing bonds to occur debt, and utilizing Tax Increment Financing (TIF) too. He emphasizes that the Capital Improvement Plan is more about maintenance type projects, but that this document has the ability to change and move items around depending on what needs to be prioritized going into an upcoming fiscal year.