Councilman Richardson Announces Major Infrastructure Proposal

Aug 23rd, 2018

Posted in: General News1

Councilman Fred Richardson today announced a proposal that would greatly expand the current Capital Improvement Program (CIP) by making more key infrastructure projects possible while using funds in a more efficient and effective manner.

Councilman Richardson outlined the proposal in the following letter to Mayor Stimpson:

Dear Mayor Stimpson:

This letter of request comes with a sense of urgency and your immediate attention is appreciated. There are critical unattended infrastructure needs in all seven council districts, far beyond the availability of capital necessary to meet such needs. Calculating the current rate of inflation, the cost to address such urgent needs five years out will more than double in cost.

In contemplating the above, and since we are now budgeting our CIP Funds out five years, I recommend you bond the $21 million the seven council districts receive per year for five years, which will be a total of $105 million. When you divide the $105 million by seven council districts, the result will be an immediate availability of $15 million for each council district.

Funding to service the $105 million bonding indebtedness will come from our annual allocation of CIP Funds.

Please give this proposal careful consideration. I’m hopeful you will see that this is the path to using taxpayer dollars in the most efficient and effective way while drastically improving our infrastructure resulting in a better quality of life for our citizens and climate for our continued economic development efforts.

Sincerely,

Fredrick D. Richardson
Councilman, District 1