More than $15 million worth of projects rejected

City leaders shelved more than $15 million in proposed projects for the next year after finance officials warned that taxpayers couldn’t afford them.
“We can’t just do everything,” said city Councilor Mike Rimcoski, a member of the project panel that weeded through the proposals Wednesday.
Left for the future were a wide range of proposals, including the $1.8 million streetscape project for Main Street and realigning the flood-prone Copper Mine Brook near Frederick Street.
“We have to be careful of the taxpayers’ dollars here,” said city Councilor Frank Nicastro.
The Five-Year Capital Improvement Committee decides annually which major projects will go forward during the next fiscal year as well as how they should be paid for.
Some projects could be covered with cash, state aid or other funds, but most of the proposals on the table could only be done by including them on the next municipal bond sale, to be paid for over the next 17 years.
City Comptroller Glenn Klocko warned that officials should not give the green light to more than about $7 million in projects for bonding out of the nearly $23 million sought. Otherwise, he said, the looming project for two new schools would send the mill rate higher.
With little room to maneuver, officials generally approved only crucial new projects such as a $5.5 million sewer line needed through Forestville, half of which will be paid by sewer users through a higher rate, and $2.5 million for the next phase of the Rockwell Park overhaul.
They turned aside efforts to study City Hall’s space needs, renovate a firehouse, improve Casey Field and make $2.2 million in improvement to the Beals Senior-Community Center.
The only contested votes came over the study of City Hall’s space, handicapped accessiobility and mechanical needs, which were supported by city Councilor Kevin McCauley and rejected by the rest of the panel.
The streetscape project gave the committee pause, but its members decided to wait for at least another year.
Mayor Art Ward said that with so many questions remaining about the mall site, it “would tend to agree” that waiting for the project is the best choice.

A sampling of approved projects
Rockwell Park renovations - $2.5 million
City Hall parking improvements - $150,000
Fiber optic connections to city buildings - $300,000
Allentown Road improvements - $600,000
New scale and gatehouse for transfer station - $160,000
World War I Memorial repairs - $32,000
Traffic signal repairs - $200,000
Tennis and basketball court repairs - $25,000



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