Good afternoon and uh welcome to Hampton City Council work session.

Um it is uh that time of the year for budget discussions and presentations, and so we have a lot to uh cover on our agenda.

So with that I ask the clerk to call a roll.

Council Badman.

Present.

Here.

Council Will Campbell.

Present, present.

Council Margaret.

Present, Councilman Butler, present, very present.

President.

And uh with that, I will turn it over to City Manager to uh introduce the first presentation.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, as you noted, it's uh that time of year again, and it's hard to believe it's that time of year again because it seems that each year um the months and days go faster than the before.

Um before we get started with uh first our capital improvement plan and then the proposed manager's recommended budget.

I do want to acknowledge that the two presentations you and the community are going to receive today represent the work of a lot a lot of people, some of whom are in the audience today, and many of whom um are uh in their offices, and then again, many citizens who participated in and getting to today's point.

So I want to pause and just recognize those who are in the audience from our budget team, our finance team, our assistant city managers, and department heads who've participated in the process, if you don't mind a point of professional privilege and allowing those who have worked behind the scenes to please stand and be recognized.

Absolutely.

Please do.

Come on.

A lot of work goes in behind the scenes, a lot of long days and long nights and weekends as we make sure that we can present a very sound uh plan for you and our community.

So, first up, we're gonna talk about our five-year capital improvement plan, the first year of which is going to be embedded in our uh manager's recommended budget for you.

The five-year capital improvement plan or CIP for short is going to be presented by uh Shu Mohammed, uh management analyst and Kenneth Barrentine, a budget and management analyst.

I think they're gonna do a tag team presentation, and so we'll call them up to the podium for them to make that presentation for you.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Mayor, council members, city manager, and city attorney.

I am Shu Mohammed, and this I'm a management analyst with the city manager's office, and beside me is Kenneth Barentine, a budget management analyst from the um division uh from the budget division of the manager's office.

Without further ado, let's just get into the FY26 FY30 CIP presentation.

So before we get into the details, I want to give you a quick overview of what we'll be covering today.

We'll start with a general overview of the capital improvement plan, what it is, how it works, and the kinds of projects it includes.

Then we'll talk about how we pay for it, walk through different funding sources like state and federal dollars, dedicated taxes or fees and bonds.

And we'll also touch on some traditional uh challenges that we're continuing to work through.

After that, we'll break down the FY26 to FY30 plan, giving you a look at how funding is distributed across the five years.

From there, we'll take a deeper dive into the specific projects organized by the priorities set by council, priorities such as infrastructure, water resilience, safe neighborhoods, and so on.

And finally, we'll go over to the next steps, what's coming up on the calendar, and how that this all fits into the overall budget process.

By the end, we hope to provide a solid foundation for understanding both the big picture and the details of the CIP.

Let's start with a quick overview of what the capital improvement plan is.

Basically, this is the city's five-year roadmap for funding major long-term investments.

This includes things like purchasing property or equipment, building new facilities, improving infrastructure, and supporting community initiatives that need more than short-term funding and attention.

To be included in the CIP, a project needs to cost more than $50,000 and have a useful life of at least five years.

So we're talking about substantial, durable investments that serve the community over time.

All right, building on that overview.

Here are a few key goals that guide us in how we approach the capital improvement plan each year.

First, we use this plan to help prepare the capital budget portion of the manager's recommended budget.

So, as Mary said, the first year of that five year CIP becomes the year's official capital budget.

Second, we're always working to protect the city's strong bond rating.

That rating impacts our borrowing costs, so keeping it healthy is crucial for long-term financial stability and making big big investments more affordable for the city.

Next, we aim to strike the right balance between investing in new or growing parts of the city and making sure we can take we take care of our existing infrastructure and community assets.

And lastly, the CI the CIP helps us tackle major priorities.

Things like resilience, public safety, and economic development by making sure those critical initiatives get the funding and focus they need and require.

So we can see here this timeline gives us a quick recap of the process that brought us here.

We began the process in August 2024 with meetings involving community stakeholder groups where staff gathered input and ideas for potential projects.

These groups had until October 31st to submit their formal funding requests.

Throughout October and November, the CIP committee reviewed these submissions, assessing them for need, visibility, and alignment with council's strategic priorities.

In March 2025, Council held its annual budget retreat, which helped shape the broader direction of both the operating and capital budgets.

Then also in this month, we briefed council on the full side CIP during a work session, giving you a chance to review the proposed plan in detail.

Following that, we are now at the public hearing on the CIP.

We will then conclude with the manager's recommended budget, including the first year of the first five year CIP being put out later this month.

So there are main four main sources of funding that we rely on.