Proposed New Kent capital spending at $1.9 million

A proposed five-year county Capital Improvement Plan that reflects the troubled state of the economy is now under perusal by New Kent’s Planning Commission.

While the proposal features a laundry list of projects totaling $91.3 million over the next five years, only a small fraction is being recommended for the next fiscal year (2010-11). Monday night, County Administrator Cabell Lawton unveiled the proposed plan before commission members.

“We did not remove any projects, but we did defer most,” he told planners. “At [the Board of Supervisors’] recent retreat, there were concerns with the economy and not doing any new major projects.”

County departments forwarded over $7.4 million in project requests for next year. For now, administration is recommending approval of a sparse list totaling just under $1.9 million.

Topping the recommended list is $850,634 targeted for public utilities where money to pay for the work comes from user and connection fees. Local money ($842,400) is penciled in to pay for items that include replacing sheriff’s department vehicles ($200,000) and school buses ($320,000), upgrading computers ($102,200), and equipment plus station 2 and 3 improvements for the fire department ($190,000).

County schools had requested close to $1.2 million in projects, but only the figure for buses appears on the recommended list. A $600,000 project to upgrade the old middle school, now dubbed the historic school, could be reinstated for next year, Lawton said. For now, the project has been pushed back to the following year.

The sheriff’s office, meanwhile, requested a $1.25 million animal shelter for next year, but that has also been pushed back into 2011-12.

Other big-ticket items that have appeared on the plan in recent years have been deferred including a $17.5 million elementary school now placed in 2012-13.

An effort, meanwhile, is under way to amend the plan to include the Lanexa area’s fire station 4.

A public hearing on the part of the plan that falls under the Planning Commission’s scrutiny is scheduled for the group’s April 19 meeting.