ABSTRACT
A capital improvements program (CIP) is a financial instrument for scheduling project costs and debt service and limiting fluctuations. This chapter considers the role of planning standards, stages of planning processes during which planners can apply the equity concepts, indicators of facility and service distribution, and methods of rating priorities in capital improvement programming. In such instances, an equality standard is constructed as a threshold of adequacy, so that everyone should be within an acceptable distance of the facility in order to obtain service when they need or want it. Every planner doing a CIP needs to understand that preparing a budget, whether for operating or capital expenditures, is more than technical procedures. The notion of basing equity on demand implies that active interest by constituents in a service should be rewarded. Capital improvements also implement citywide goals in formal planning processes.
