Page 64 - Florence County, SC Florence County 2032: Connecting Our Past, Defining Our Future
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5. Find ways to fairly and sustainably fund both new limited to) the following: road infrastructure;
infrastructure that accompanies growth, such as water, wastewater, and drainage improvements;
water, wastewater, drainage and roads as well as parks, trails, and recreation facility construction
the long term maintenance of infrastructure. and upgrades; and, construction and renovation
of public buildings. Anticipating and adequately
6. Increase coordination between the County
budgeting for major capital projects will be
and Rural Water Districts as well as between
essential to implementing this plan. Likewise,
the County and other service and infrastructure
decisions regarding the prioritization of
providers and partners.
proposed capital improvements should reflect
the direction and priorities of this plan (refer to
sidebar on this page).
STRATEGIC ACTION • Conduct pro-active preventative maintenance
PRIORITIES on roads and bridges and schedule targeted
reconstruction in locations with deteriorated
• Develop a formal, prioritized and transparent conditions.
Capital Improvements Program (CIP). A Capital › Conduct a Pavement Condition Assessment
Improvements Program may include (but is not to determine existing road conditions and
PRIORITIZING CAPITAL PROJECT NEEDS
As with any priority-setting process, various criteria Public engagement and education to help with
can potentially be applied to determine the ultimate project vetting and priority setting is another strategy
timing and sequencing of capital improvements for gaining consensus during the process. Technical
projects. For county governments, perhaps the and financial staff sometimes must highlight
most fundamental ranking consideration is public reasons that certain projects must be fast-tracked
health, safety and welfare. Some projects and (e.g., mandated improvements) while others will
improvements the County cannot avoid doing, or require more time due to sheer cost, right-of-way
cannot put off, as they are mandated by the state or acquisition, etc. Inter-departmental working groups,
federal governments or are a condition of a permit as well as subcommittees of the BOCC, Planning
(e.g., water and wastewater system compliance with Commission or other County boards/commissions,
water quality standards). Once a set of candidate may also play a role.
projects has been identified, reasons should be
In the end, the project identification and prioritization
outlined for placing certain projects ahead of others.
process should ensure that Pottawatomie County
As taxpayer funds are involved, elected officials is satisfying a key purpose of capital improvements
must also consider equity as they seek to show planning, which is to provide predictability – for
results to their constituents. Geographic and/or multiple years in advance – of the County’s capital
socioeconomic fairness may require that beneficial investment plans and priorities for the benefit and
projects occur in various parts of the County and not awareness of private interests and citizens.
be concentrated in only certain parts of the County.
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Adopted - August 19, 2019 The Future County 4 | Growth Capacity | 57
