GREENWICH,
CT - For the last several years the First Selectman has established an ad hoc
Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Project Committee. The CIP Project Committee
served as an advisory body to the First Selectman. The Committee represented
the various stakeholders of the capital budget, including Town department
heads, the Superintendent of Schools, members of the Representative Town
Meeting (RTM), the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET), and the Board of
Education (BoE). The role of the committee was to rank and prioritize capital
requests.
The Town Charter, under Article 2, Section 21, Annual Budget and Operations Plans, makes it clear that the First Selectman has the responsibility of presenting a Town-wide capital budget to the BET. The Charter states that the First Selectman “shall establish
priorities with respect to recommended capital spending for all Town agencies”
and “develop a long-range capital spending plan.” The CIP Project Committee was
never a charter requirement.
Historically,
when the CIP Project Committee was convened, the Office of the First Selectman
(OFS) witnessed the natural tension between departments’ views and the need for
town-wide perspective. In addition, departments had knowledge gaps with other
departments’ projects. To address some of those shortcomings and to streamline
the CIP budget development process, the OFS recognized the need to centralize
the CIP development decision-making to the First Selectman.
For
FY20, the First Selectman will hold a public hearing on proposed CIP on
Tuesday, December 18 at 6 p.m. in the Cone Room of Town Hall. This
will provide the public an opportunity to comment on the draft CIP plan for
FY20. The First Selectman will then use the public comments to guide the
development of the final CIP document that will be presented to the BET at 6
p.m. on January 24 in the Town Hall Meeting Room.