Capital Planning Committee

Mission Statement

The goal of the Capital Planning Committee is to provide a means of planning for necessary expenditures for maintenance, equipment and/ or improvements of the capital assets and infrastructure of the Town of Berlin.

Our Goals

The Capital Planning Committee shall research, study and advise the Select Board and Finance Committee of the requests for short and long range capital purchases for the Town. The Committee shall be charged with facilitating the coordination between community objectives, capital needs and fiscal capacity. The Committee will help the Town to understand the tax impact of the capital expenditures and consider the relative need, timing and cost of each capital expenditure. The Committee shall consider all written requests and make recommendations. The Committee shall provide a written report to assist the Select Board and Finance Committee in keeping the community informed about the Town’s future anticipated needs and projects that will be voted on the at the Annual Town Meeting.

The Capital Planning Committee receives its authorization from Article XXI of the Town’s Bylaws which states, “A Capital Planning Committee is hereby established (hereinafter “the Committee”). Its purpose will be to develop a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), evaluate the financial effect of proposed expenditures and make recommendations for the priority and funding of items submitted for consideration. The Committee will consider capital expenditures, and extraordinary expenses. For purposes of this bylaw, capital expenditures are defined as the request for town funding of an item(s) that will be bonded over multiple years. For the purposes of this by-law, extraordinary expenses are defined as any request for town funding of capital or expense items submitted outside of the entity’s operating budget in the form of an independent town meeting article(s). (ATM 2017, Art.35) (1)

• Capital Improvement Planning Guide
• Capital Improvement Planning Manual

(1) Note, as per section 4 of 2017 ATM Art. 35, The Board of Selectmen shall not place on the warrant any capital or extraordinary expense without prior review by the Capital Planning Committee unless the Board of Selectmen deems the item to be of an emergency nature subject to the standards similar to those applying to reserve fund transfers.

Contact the Capital Planning Committee