GREENFIELD — After several weeks of meeting with department heads on capital budget requests for fiscal year 2023, the Ways and Means Committee will begin deliberations on the recommendations it will ultimately forward to the full council.

The subcommittee of the City Council is scheduled to meet Thursday evening via Webex at 6 p.m.

Among the requests in fiscal year 2023, the Police Department is seeking a total of $1.8 million for upgrades to the Police Station, which includes addressing water filtration issues to prevent additional water and mold damage to the building, locker room improvements to address a lack of space for female officers, and upgrades to the dispatch center.

Additionally, several departments are requesting appropriations to buy new vehicles, including the Health Department, which is asking for $40,000 for a small SUV; and the Department Public Works, which is seeking $285,000 for a curbside trash collection truck, $60,000 for a used bucket truck and $90,000 to replace a Ford F-350.

Fire Chief Robert Strahan also appeared before the committee to request approval to enter into a lease agreement for two SUVs for up to six years, for a cost not exceeding $99,000. He noted it wasn’t a borrowing request, as the money would come from the department’s operations revolving account.

“Because we’ve gotten so behind in the replacement of these vehicles, I’m asking for two vehicles to come out of that account,” he said.

Precinct 1 Councilor Ed Jarvis, former deputy fire chief, noted with each department head’s request that the city regularly gets its use out of its vehicles.

“The DPW does a great job in keeping the maintenance up on our vehicles so we do get a lot of longevity on our vehicles,” Jarvis said.

Other capital requests include $275,000 for the Main Street reconstruction project.

“This will be the piece of money, the $275,000, that will get us to 50% design and engineering on the project,” said Public Works Director Marlo Warner II.

Warner explained to the committee that while the project is being funded by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, the city is responsible for the engineering and design. Conversations are ongoing among several local committees regarding how parking and bicycle lanes, potentially, will be incorporated.

Warner is also requesting $500,000 for sewer inflow and infiltration repairs and replacement as identified in the Wright-Pierce Sewer System Evaluation Survey.

“This $500,000 is the next step,” he said, referencing the first phase of the project that is now underway.

And finally, Greenfield School Department Superintendent Christine DeBarge is requesting $100,000 for technology upgrades and $75,000 for paving at Federal Street School.

“Of the computers we have currently, 244 of the desktops we have in the district are 10 years old,” DeBarge explained.

Some computers are already in a state where they are unable to run instructional software.

“We’re really in a position — and $100,000 is a wonderful starting place — where almost, if not all, of the technology requires replacement, if not upgrades, across the district,” DeBarge told the Ways and Means Committee last month. “Given the fact we keep desktops for the length of time that we do — and we will need to implement a reasonable replenishment cycle going forward for all of our technology — we’d like to request the replacement of as many teacher desktops [as possible] with the allocation.”

The Ways and Means Committee will next meet on April 11 at 6 p.m. via Webex to hear a presentation by Mayor Roxann Wedegartner on the proposed fiscal year 2023 operating budget.

The $58.3 million package submitted by Wedegartner represents a spending increase of approximately 7% over the current year’s operating budget of $54.5 million.

The proposal includes reductions across nearly every department to mitigate surging costs for everything from goods and services to fuel, and increases in the school budget, while still supporting negotiated cost-of-living increases for city employees.

“This budget is not one that includes excessive requests in expenses or staffing. In fact, it is the opposite, as we slowly recover from the adverse financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Wedegartner said a statement. “We focused on a shared common purpose of providing a balanced city budget that realistically maintains services and programs for all Greenfield residents while confronting economic pressures that are beyond our control.”

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.