During the next six years – through fiscal year 2031-32 – Visalia City Hall plans to spend billions of dollars to expand, improve and maintain the city’s infrastructure. That means the time for the public to give its input is now.
Projects Represent Visalia’s Unnoticed Framework
The City Council, in four meetings through April 20, will streamline project proposals and review funding options. Members of the public are encouraged to attend and add their input.
“This is all the stuff that people don’t see that happens every single day in the city,” said Mayor Brett Taylor. “It’s all the stuff that goes underground. It’s the worktrucks. It’s the stuff that nobody sees. It’s not the parks and the fun things. (It’s) being prepared for our city so we’re not constantly putting out fires and trying to find money.”
Dozens of projects in every part of the city’s roads, parks, sewers, and other systems and facilities will be affected by the upcoming decisions . Planning of this massive undertaking is already underway and will continue through the spring. The City Council will spend the next three months picking and modifying the projects to be undertaken, and figuring out how to pay for them.
Property owners and land developers can probably expect fee increases as a result.
Locking In Two Years, Planning for Four More
This week, the council started its review by looking at a hodgepodge of various aspects of its business, which are divided into independent funds. Those discussed at Monday’s meeting on February 17 included wastewater and sewer infrastructure, garbage collection, building safety, animal services, the city’s airport and wastewater treatment plant, and public transportation.
At its next four meetings the council will tackle the remaining proposed changes and upgrades to city services and properties:
March 2 – The council will address parks and recreation spending, as well as waterways, storm drainage and groundwater recharge.
March 16 – The topics reviewed by the council will include roads and transportation, landscape and lighting, and other capital improvements.
April 6 – Fleet maintenance and vehicle replacement, including firefighting and police, as well as the city’s corporate maintenance yard will be up for discussion.
April 20 – The council will review the city’s largest pool of money, the general fund, as well as firefighting impact fees and police unclaimed funds. The city’s minor league baseball park will also get a look, as will the convention center and the city’s information services division.
During all of these fund reviews, the council will consider spending for projects lasting through the middle of 2032 and beyond. However, the final decision on what to fund will only lock in the city’s budget for FY 26/27 and FY 27/28.
“Those (two budget years) are being proposed for adoption and appropriations,” said finance director Nichol Ritchie. “The remaining four years are included for planning purposes only.”
The council’s final spending decisions will come at the same time it decides on the upcoming year’s total budget in June.
Funding Shortfalls Likely Mean Higher Impact Fees
At the February 17 meeting, up for discussion first were new sewer connections and upgrades to the city’s wastewater “trunkline,” the underground piping system that moves sewage to the city’s treatment facility. Work on the trunkline will include seven projects for $4.5 million, and two sanitation upgrades for sewer connections are planned for a total of $14.2 million. Part of that funding will come from the separate Wastewater Facility Fund.
Yet both of these sets of projects have budget shortfalls. So the impact fees that support them will undergo a study to prove the anticipated increases are justified. The studies will take about 12 months to complete, and until they’re finished there’s no way to estimate how much they’ll go up, finance director Ritchie said.
In the meantime, a bit of financial juggling will move money from the Wastewater Facility Fund to keep the projects moving.
The city’s wastewater treatment plant will also see a lot of changes during the next six years, provided the money is available. A total of $76 million is earmarked for 49 projects during that time.
“The majority of the project total is for the treatment plant capacity expansion in FY 26/27 and 27/28,” said Renee Nagel, the city’s finance and technology services director. “This fund currently has cash available, however, it is not enough to maintain and replace the facility assets, which totals $315 million.”
The fund is supported by impact fees and user rates, and those will have to be reconsidered given the financing needs.
Other City Departments in Better Financial Shape
The rest of the city funds reviewed Monday afternoon seem to be in better shape.
The Transit Capital Fund includes 18 new projects at a cost of $19 million over the six-year planning period. All of those projects, including a downtown parking garage on Tipton Street between Oak and School avenues, are contingent on outside funding, such as state grants. If the funding doesn’t materialize, the projects won’t go ahead.
The same is true of the city’s Airport Fund. Six of the nine projects planned for the municipal airport depend on state or federal funding, and they won’t advance if the outside money falls through.
The Building Safety Fund is also healthy, with a $16.6 million cash balance to start the fiscal year. City Hall is planning a periodic review of the system for streamlining, and that could mean a quicker permitting process for builders.
“Each year, we go through various upgrades to the system,” said Jason Huckleberry, director of the Engineering and Development Department. “It could be reporting, that’s helpful to the public to ask for various reports. It could be efficiency operations on our end, that (when) we’re looking for reports we can kind of make proper changes to process. That would speed things up.”
The study might also increase the building department’s online accessibility.
“It also covers just modifications to the system annually that might open up additional … civic automation,” Huckleberry said. “It actually engages (in) online permitting, which is another efficiency and speed task.”
Proper Maintenance Takes Foresight and Cash
The only cause for concern from the city council on Monday was the request for new cameras and flooring at the Animal Services facility. Councilman Steve Nelsen questioned why replacing old or damaged equipment there was not included in the current year’s spending plan.
Animal Services manager Candice Harrington explained the request was a matter of getting ahead of the game.
“The floors are still functional at this time,” she said. “They are starting to chip, though, so we foresee that over time it’s going to still continue to deteriorate as we have more animals coming through those kennels, wear and tear.”
City manager Leslie Caviglia clarified why the spending was deferred.
“We are trying to anticipate and not come with last-minute crises when, in fact, we do have things that begin to fail,” she said. “In order to do that, we’ve got to project out and have that longer-term lead. We’re trying to do a better job of that. That’s what you’re seeing here. It’s not doomsday.”
Nelsen said the wording of the request had caught his attention.
“Some of the writing is alarming,” he said.
Discussion of the city’s upcoming capital improvement projects will continue during a public hearing at 5 p.m. on Monday, March 2 in the council chambers at City Hall West, 707 West Acequia Street.