By Jay Taylor | InMaricopa
First in a series examining the city’s budget
Maricopa not only is among Arizona’s fastest-growing cities but also among the fastest-growing in the country. With all of those new people comes the need for infrastructure to support them.
Some Maricopans, who have expressed that city infrastructure is inadequate – especially regarding traffic – for today’s population, much less after the homes and apartments approved and pending swell the population to six figures in coming years, may be relieved to learn that the city is addressing that.
As we begin the new year, InMaricopa begins a series of stories examining Maricopa’s budget and expenditures for infrastructure. We will look at how much the city is spending, how it is spending and whether taxpayers are getting their money’s worth.
This initial story provides an overview of the city’s primary spending category: capital improvement projects, or CIPs. These are infrastructure projects for streets, utilities, parks, facilities and other necessities for a city approaching 70,000 residents.