The Board of Finance is looking to extend the formal part of the Capital Improvement Plan from five years to a full 10 years, and discussed the possibility at its August 12 meeting.

Chairman Jim Gaston said he would like to have a 10 year plan and thinks expanding it beyond the current five year plan, with another five years being “suggestions,” is a “good idea.”

“My thought is that the CIP is a fluid, moving document,” said Gaston. “The further out you go, the better it is.”

Gaston said he would put together formal language for the policy change.

The CIP is the town’s plan to help it schedule out large expenditures such as building improvements, new buildings, and other big ticket items and keep the town’s bonding levels as stable as possible. Generally the town budgets for $7 to $10 million in new bonding each year. This year on the CIP was a “bonding vacation,” with no new bonding added.

First Selectman Jeff Capeci said he thought the five year plan “works well,” but it is also good to “keep sight beyond five years,” believing that the current plan having suggestions beyond five years was good enough.

“I’m not sure if you add five additional years on, what that would look like,” said Capeci.

Finance Director Glenys Salas was hesitant to weigh in, as it is her first year acting as the town’s finance director and her first time working on a CIP. She did note that she had not seen other municipalities using CIPs beyond five years, and felt the further out the plan, the more there is “significant variability” between the plan’s cost estimate and the actual cost of the project.

BOF member Barney Molloy said that from his experience, “five years is a good working document,” but felt the town could “go beyond” for the next five years and make it “less aspirational and more of a guideline.”

While he wasn’t concerned with the estimated costs of the project, he felt having a more solid time line on when projects would be committed to would be helpful to the town.

“We should be more committed to what the plan looks like,” said Molloy. “Capital costs are not decreasing, times to build are not decreasing.”

He noted that Public Works Director Fred Hurley “has a good grasp on when bridges and roads will be done” but Hurley will “not be with the town forever.”

“Maybe the second five years may not be as precise, but it would be helpful bracketing where we are going to go,” said Molloy.

Molloy also noted that the facilities study that the town is currently working on, to determine the operational lifespan of the town’s inventory of buildings, will be a “big nut to crack.”

BOF member Bryce Chinault was curious on how often the town has stuck to what has been put into a five year plan. He also said that he was supportive of initiatives to look beyond five years.

“Newtown will be here for a while, so it’s reasonable to look at it,” said Chinault.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.