PREPARATION OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM BY THE PLANNING COMMISSION

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Opinion No. 74-19 May 9, 1974 Page 2 order of priority with the amount of funds required for each capital improvement and the planned method of financing and submit such a program annually to the city. manager and the city council ." The selection of ten years as the appropriate period was apparently due to the need to establish a balance between a period short enough to allow some realism in the calculation of future funding and financing and a period long enough to have relevance to long-term planning goals of the city. The Charter, in effect, mandates the Commission to think ten years ahead in establishing capital improvement priorities, taking into consideration both the practical problems encountered in paying the costs involved and the significance of proposed improvements with respect to desired development of the city as set forth in the general plan. The Planning Commission has particular expertise with questions concerning the conformity of proposed improvement projects with the planning and development goals of the city, and it thus con- . stitutes an appropriate. agency for the injection of this factor into the establishment of priorities between proposed municipal capital improvements. The question of what time period constitutes the best reference period for preparation of capital improvement program may be one upon which reasonable minds may differ, but the ten year period established by the charter certainly does not appear to be unduly long with respect to the planning and develop- ment element that should go into the preparation of that program. As for the funding and financing statements which must be included in the program, the~same degree of certainty cannot generally be expected for low-priority projects as for those proposed for the near future. However, the Charter section allows the annual revi- sion of the program so that the proposed finding and financing of future projects may be changed when circumstances so require. In conclusion, the Charter requires tht the capital improve- ment program list all improvement projects contemplated within the ten years next forthcoming and that funding and financing statements be included for each proposed project. Any variation from these requirements is legally permissible only by way of Charter amendment. To pl-ace such a Charter amendment on the -55-