Nearly $40 Million Needed in Next Five Years
The City of Arcadia operates just like any homeowner. They look around the place, realize that the driveway really needs replacement, the air conditioner is not only old, but not in realizing today’s energy efficient levels, the shrubs have died of both old age and a beetle attack. The roof still looks good, but repainting and re-carpeting wouldn’t be a bad idea.
The analogy fails, though, when you consider Federal, state and regional regulations that mean change is required on a specific schedule that says it must be done, well, now. Also, public buildings are generally open six days a week for 14 or more hours with lots of visitors which means that the physical plants just wear out more quickly than a homeowner’s.
Arcadia is required to have the City Manager develop a detailed plan of its capital improvement needs every five years. Last September, Arcadia’s City Manager, Don Penman, prepared a 283 page report that lists each item needed for replacement or repair with an explanation of what is needed and a justification for spending the money. Oh, yes. He also had to specify where the money would come from to pay for it all. What he came up with was a total of $39,865,156, and brilliantly, located the funds.
“The City Charter requires the City Manager to submit to City Council a five-year capital and equipment acquisition plan,” Penman writes in his report to the Council.
He explained that the program is intended to forecast a schedule of major expenditures on such things as buildings, parks, roads, sewers, water projects and others.
The report contemplates the city spending $31 million on streets, buildings and grounds, sewer and storm drain, and the city-owned water system, among other things: with repair to the city’s streets commanding the largest amount, $16 million. Equipment costs are anticipated to run $8.5 million for such items as office machines, computers and software, communications equipment with just under $6 million for vehicles and major parts.
Penman warns in his report that the figures presented are not budgetary in nature but rather a general financial plan for capital improvements and the proposed means of financing them. Any spending for improvements are required to be brought to the City Council for budgeting and authorization for each item.
To save you the problem of going to the city website, or to the City Clerk for a copy of this report, we will list a few items that should give you an idea of what the city faces each year as machinery breaks down, roads get bumpy, and the regulatory requirements coming from Washington, or Sacramento or Los Angeles County make for a constant need to plan.
– Dead Oleandar bushes on N. Baldwin Ave., were attacked by an insect. If you’ve been up that way, you see that removing these old bushes is a big deal.
– Sprinkler heads need replacement in some of the median strips. And irrigation controls need upgrading.
– L A County is requiring testing for natural metals in the groundwater as regs are now in place for the entire L A basin.
– The heating and air conditioning units at the library are 11 years old, 16 years old at the Service Center and 14 years old at the Community Center. The maintenance costs on the old units whose days are really over exceeds good sense.
Arcadia has been consistently blessed with dedicated staff that keeps all systems in good order day after day. It appears the five-year program has various revenue streams that will support the effort.
Penman says, “These projects are, for the most part, related to the City’s infrastructure and are necessary to maintain a safe and healthy quality of life in Arcadia.”