been approved for the CIP. Failure to fund projects at an acceptable rate
may mean that too many projects that have been proposed and accepted
will languish in the CIP for longer than five years. This may be indicative of
poor planning and could cause political turmoil among supporters of those
projects. The projects that have moved to the top of the CIP, either over a
period of years, or due to their urgency, become the capital budget. The
exact number of projects that are funded will be determined by the amount
of resources that can be dedicated to capital acquisition. It is not uncommon
that one or two projects slated for construction, having moved up the CIP
over the five-year period, will have to wait another year.
As mentioned earlier, capital items may be funded in two basic ways.
Current resources, either cash on hand or revenue that will be received
during the course of the fiscal year, is often used to fund small capital items,
or when fund balances are higher than needed for prudent financial
management. Another advantage to using current resources when funds are
available is that voter approval for such expenditures is not needed, as it
typically is for issuing general obligation debt. The cost of conducting a
special bond referendum when an emergency need arises simply may not
be a wise expenditure when the project must be undertaken to correct a
dangerous situation.
There are other benefits to using current resources. It avoids interest
expense and preserves the debt issuance capacity of the jurisdiction (for a
discussion see Hackbart and Ramsey, 1993). It may also limit profligate
spending by a city council or county commission. Requiring that certain
types of projects or items be funded from current resources may limit the
bells-and-whistles mentality that often accompanies debt financing. Finally,
capital acquisition that does not increase the debt total of the entity improves
the debt to assets ratio that bond rating companies use as one factor in
establishing general obligation debt ratings.
Funding with debt has pros and cons as well. Using debt links the cost of
capital facilities with users. Building a fund balance in its general fund
sufficient to construct a major facility, say a library, might take several years
in even a large entity. Each year is a different generation of taxpayers. Some
move away and others move in each year. Some who contributed nothing or
very little will have use of the facility while some who contributed quite a bit
move and receive no benefit. This intergenerational inequity is resolved
through the use of debt for major capital acquisitions, especially those with
very long useful lives.
Some projects simply cost too much ever to be built with current
resources. One of the trends in the use of capital construction for economic
development are massive projects such as airports, rail transit systems,
central city highway projects like the so-called Big Dig in Boston. The
funding strategies for projects like the one in Boston are so complex that