City Seeks Public Input for Capital Improvement Plan for Fiscal Years 2027 - 2032

The Portsmouth City Council, Planning Board and Planning & Sustainability Department invite the public to provide input on the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for Fiscal Years 2027 to 2032 (July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2032). Residents are invited to submit projects for consideration in the next CIP by September 19, 2025. 

The CIP details a six-year schedule and financing strategy for accomplishing necessary public improvements and meeting the City’s infrastructure needs. The Planning Board oversees the development of the CIP, which supports the Board’s responsibilities to prepare and amend the Citywide Master Plan (portsnh.co/masterplan).

Residents are encouraged to visit the City’s CIP webpage at portsnh.co/cip to review the current CIP and to submit a Citizen’s Request Form.

CIP projects are based on capital needs identified by federal and state mandates or regulations, facility and infrastructure assessments and studies, planning priorities (related to implementation of the Master Plan or related studies), and policy priorities based on the direction provided by the City Council, and by citizen requests.

To be suggested via the Citizen Project Request Form, capital improvement projects should be major fiscal expenditures that fall into one or more of the following categories: 

• Land acquisition
• Construction or expansion of a new facility or utility lines
• Non-recurring rehabilitation of a facility provided the cost is $50,000 or more
• Design work or planning study related to a capital project or implementation of the Master Plan
• Any item or piece of equipment, non-vehicular in nature, that costs more than $50,000 and has a life expectancy of five or more years
• Replacement and purchase of vehicles which have a life expectancy of more than five years or cost more than $50,000

The City’s CIP needs have always exceeded the availability of funding. Therefore, the City follows a prioritization process that establishes clear, concise guidelines for project selection and provides an objective process for ranking projects. This provides decision-makers with a guide for the best use of available funding.

Project justification criteria include:

• Identified in Planning document or study
• Addresses public health or safety need
• Alleviate substandard conditions or deficiencies
• Response to Federal or State requirement
• Improves quality of existing services
• Provides added capacity to existing services
• Reduces long-term operating costs
• Provides incentive to economic development
• Eligible for matching funds with limited availability

All project requests are reviewed by the appropriate City Department and shared with the Planning Board CIP Advisory Committee for consideration in the Capital Improvement process.

The anticipated timeline for the 2027-2032 CIP is as follows:

August 18                            CIP process kick-off at City Council meeting
September 19                       Citizen’s Request deadline
September 26-November 5  Staff review Citizen and Department requests
October 9                             Citizen request review, Department recommendations, financials prepared
November 12                       Planning Board and City Council Joint Work Session 
November 17                       City Council meeting, public hearing on CIP
November 20                       Planning Board recommendation to City Council
December 8                          City Council meeting to consider adoption of CIP
January-April                      CIP incorporated in proposed Annual Budget
June                                      CIP funding adopted as a part of City’s Annual Budget