Over the next five years, San Mateo has about $267 million in capital improvement needs, mostly tied to sewer-related projects, with others marked for transportation and facilities infrastructure needs.
Public Works Director Matt Fabry detailed a list of high-priority infrastructure projects during a City Council meeting April 21, as well as potential funding gaps. Much of the sewer-related project funds are related to the new wastewater treatment plant center, located off Detroit Drive and next to Leslie Creek, which is part of a larger, 10-year, $1 billion effort to enhance the city’s wastewater collection and treatment services.
Earlier this year, city staff informed the council that the project faces another year of cost increases, likely going up by at least $25 million.
“The next biggest would be our streets and transportation … maintaining our roadways. Buildings and facilities comes in after that, and parks and recreation come in slightly below that,” Fabry said.
For the 2025-26 fiscal year, which begins this July, the city will start on structural changes to the Marina Library, which will close down for at least a year. There will also be updates made to the Joinville Pool and road rehabilitation.
The city funds most of its capital improvement projects from a combination of general funds — about $4.25 million per year — as well as Measure S funds, a quarter-cent sales tax and Measure CC, a 1% increase on real property transfer tax.
There are also about $2.5 million worth of new proposed projects that have yet to be funded.
“Even with the two contributions from the general fund and Measure S, as well as the Measure CC, we’ve got a little more than we have revenue for in [fiscal year] 25-26,” Fabry said. “But we are able to balance that out by pulling from the general fund [capital improvement project] balance [with] money that's been released from projects that had additional money … that they didn’t need.”
Other projects in the five-year plan include resurfacing citywide play courts, about $1.75 million, as well as citywide facility roof replacements and sidewalk repairs.
Despite the city facing a higher general fund deficit next fiscal year, Deputy Mayor Adam Loraine said the improvements were critical to continue supporting.
“It is a little tough to hear about potential uncertainty, deficits and then see how much we want to do in the future, yet what gets measured gets managed,” Loraine said.
(1) comment
We do not need to spend $3M to rip out bike lanes to install 100 parking spots.
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