Yakima City Council Discussing Capital Projects

The city of Yakima has a long wish list of projects from a downtown plaza to cleaning up North First Street and City Council members talked about those capital projects during a study session Tuesday.

There is nearly $90 million needed for 11 big projects the city council would like to complete, but only $17 million available right now. City Manager Tony O'Rourke says, “A lot of these facilities have had deferred investment for not years but decades. We need to catch up. We need to provide amenities to this community.”

The new plans will not be cheap as it will take an estimated $10 million dollars to remodel the fire station, $11 million for a downtown plaza and $3 million to improve the airport. O'Rourke says the money will all come from existing revenues and that no new taxes are needed. The city has $17 million to spend right away.

Next month city council members plan to prioritize the most important projects that will start right away.

Another major source of funding the city is looking toward could come in the November ballot. The voters could approve a mandatory $750,000 from the city's budget to be spent solely on the local parks and recreation.