Los Gatos Weekly-Times

CIP budget gives bulk of money to street repairs

Civic Center Upgrades

By Jeff Kearns

The town's Capital Improvement Plan, which will pour almost $15 million into infrastructure improvements around town, was presented to the Town Council at its April 13 meeting.

Most of the money, about $13.8 million, will go toward street and signal improvements in town. Thanks to an extra-wet winter and budget shortfalls in recent years that have forced some repairs to be delayed, many streets have fallen further into disrepair.

The Civic Center building is budgeted to receive $660,000 worth of overdue improvements to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and will also get an upgraded electrical system, which Town Manager David Knapp says is sorely needed.

Most of the money budgeted for next year's improvement plan, about 84 percent, comes from the one-time revenue sources that created this year's budget surplus, and while the town has the money, it's going to be spent on capital projects that need to be done now, not sometime in the future.

"While the economy is great, instead of increasing ongoing expenditures, we're emphasizing one-time capital improvements," finance director Michele Braucht said. "We're trying to project out five years from now when the economy may not be quite so fabulous."

The money being allocated in this year's CIP will be expended over the life of the projects. "We're trying to create a position for the future where we keep ongoing costs down by making capital improvements now," Braucht said.

Repairs are needed soon on many town streets. As repairs are delayed, streets that are not maintained can slip further into disrepair. The longer a street goes without attention, the higher the costs involved in making the repairs. If a street goes long enough without being resurfaced, it reaches a point of no return and can't just be resurfaced.

Included in the CIP is an index of street conditions in town, created by independent consulting engineers, that will help officials make cost-effective decisions. Some streets that may be worse off than others must wait longer for repairs in order to keep the better streets from dropping down to the next level on the index.

A final version of the CIP is scheduled to be adopted on May 4.

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