County Approves First Comprehensive Capital Improvement Plan

It’s being called the first of its kind.

County Commissioners approved a new capital improvement plan Monday by a 4-0 vote that will help replace or repair some of the county’s aging infrastructure over the next five years.

No projects have been approved yet, but the plan puts the process in place to get capital improvement projects approved, which some say could save taxpayers money in the long run.

“It’s, I think, an historic day for the county,” County Judge Veronica Escobar said. “It should basically tell the public, we are going to be far more thoughtful about how we spend your money than we ever have been before.”

Before now capital improvement projects came to Commissioners Court one at a time. From now on there is a gameplan for those projects, according to the County Judge’s Chief Administrator, Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria, that will prioritize projects and find funding.

“It’s a planning tool that allows the Commissioners Court to call on its departments and elected officials to bring forward projects that they would like for the court to fund,” Arrieta-Candelaria said.

Projects like replacing the Sheriff’s offices aging fleet, instead of just repairing the vehicles, or fixing up the County’s now 20-year-old courthouse.

“I think it’s a little scary that we never had this before,” new commissioner Tania Chozet said. “I think it’s great, but I think to some extent we should have clearly been doing this before.”

Taxpayers said it’s a good idea to have a plan.

“The community needs it,” Central El Pasoan Stephanie Tipton said. “If you need a new roof, you do it right away. The same goes with the improvements they need here at the County.”

Escobar said in the long run it could save taxpayers money.

“We all know it, we have it in our personal lives, just our government has not done a good job of carrying out those principles,” Escobar said. “With this plan, not only will we do a better job carrying out those principles, but the public will get to see it every step of the way.”

One of Escobar’s top goals as county judge has been to improve transparency at the County, which she feels the capital improvement plan will do. The current plan will focus on projects for 2013 through 2017. Deadline for next year’s projects is April 15.