Capital Projects

The ACPS departments of Building Services and Fiscal Services monitor, analyze, and plan for facility and capital needs of the Division. The work informs the County’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and strives to ensure all students and staff are in adequate space and have access to adequate equipment. The CIP serves as a planning and implementation tool for the acquisition, development, construction, maintenance, and renovation of school facilities, sites, and equipment. The CIP uses Building capacity calculations, enrollment projections, and other related data to create capital project requests and inform the work of the Long Range Planning Advisory Committee (LRPAC). 

The Capital Improvements Program is developed using the following:

• The Capital Budget is the first year of the approved five-year Capital Improvement Plan. Only the Capital Budget is requested for appropriation each year.
• The Capital Improvement Program Plan is the initial five-year period of the program. The CIP forecasts spending for all anticipated capital projects and is considered to be a link between the County’s Comprehensive Plan, Strategic Plan, and its financial planning process.

A capital project is a planned expense for a facility or physical item requiring 1) a minimum expenditure of $20,000, 2) having a useful life span of 10 years or more (except for general technology equipment with a useful life of 5 years or more), and 3) meeting one or more of the following definitions:

• Involves the acquisition or construction of any physical facility for the community;
• Involves the acquisition of land or an interest in land for the community;
• Involves the acquisition or construction of public utilities;
• Involves the ongoing acquisition of major equipment or physical systems, i.e., computer technology, radio systems, major specialized vehicles etc.;
• Involves modifications to facilities, including additions to existing facilities, which increases the square footage, useful life, or value of the facility; and/or
• Capital maintenance or replacement projects on existing facilities, defined as a non-recurring project to repair, maintain, or replace existing capital facilities for the purpose of protecting the County’s investment in a facility and minimizing future maintenance and replacement costs. To be classified as a capital maintenance project, a project must have an interval between expenditures of at least 5 years. Individual maintenance projects may have a minimum value of less than $20,000.
• Information technology purchases included in the CIP are limited to computer systems that cost more than $20,000, server infrastructure, fiber networks, software that cost more than $20,000 and/or have a useful life of at least 10 years, and general equipment with a useful life of 5 years or more. These purchases can be planned in the CIP and, if included, will be funded in the Capital Budget on a “pay-as-you-go” basis.