Mitchell Proposes $17 Million Bond for New Bedford Projects

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — Mayor Jon Mitchell has requested that the New Bedford City Council approve a $17.4 bond authorization to fund the first year of his upcoming five-year Capital Improvement Program, designed to make repairs and improvements across the city.

“You have to have a plan,” Mitchell said in his weekly appearance on WBSM Wednesday. “It’s the basics, it’s what we’ve been doing every year.“ The first CIP was created in 2017.

How the New Plan Compares to Previous Years

Overall, the new five-year plan – which would go from 2026 through 2030 and total $72.5 million – “is the smallest five-year plan yet submitted to the city council,” according to a City of New Bedford release. It points out that this plan is about 40 percent smaller than the previous five-year plan from 2021-2025, which totaled $120.7 million.

Of the total $72.5 million, $59.2 million would go to projects such as road repairs, public buildings and other government facilities, and the Buttonwood Park Zoo.

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A Disciplined Approach to City Investment

“The 2026 projects being proposed this week represent a disciplined approach to addressing essential road repairs, the upkeep of municipal facilities, and improving our recreational sites,” Mitchell said. “The City’s use of a five-year plan has been a key component in our efforts to demonstrate responsible fiscal management to the City’s residents.”

Where the Money Will Go

The FY2026 CIP proposal includes:

$3 million for roadway reconstruction, augmenting state-funded and utility-related improvements to roads and sidewalks
$560,000 to replace aging police cruisers
$1.5 million for improvements to the Hillman Street Complex Building 3, including replacing the roof and the ADA ramp
$541,000 for deferred maintenance at City Hall, including replacing failing existing roof systems, work on the elevator and third-floor bathroom, boiler pipe insulation and drainage improvements
$750,000 for park renovations and playground improvements, including to basketball and tennis courts and lighting at Hazelwood, Buttonwood and Brooklawn Parks, and upgrades at neighborhood playgrounds throughout the city
$500,000 for school department security, ADA compliance and key system upgrades at Sgt. William Carney Academy and the Alfred J. Gomes Elementary School
$139,000 to purchase three advanced monitors/defibrillators, CPR expansion packs and three state-of-the-art chest compression systems for Emergency Medical Services
$450,000 to repave roads within City-owned cemeteries

Why the Capital Plan Matters for Residents

“There’s nothing all that remarkable about it,” Mitchell said in his WBSM appearance. “What we spend money on, or borrow money for in that plan, are things that people expect from City government. They expect the roads to get fixed, they expect the buildings to be kept up, and they expect when they flush the toilet, it works.”