Reviewing and Implementing Asset Management Plans
An asset management plan is a tool to communicate a municipality’s current state and anticipated funding needs to the community and other levels of government. A good asset management plan will provide the data, analysis and financial requirements to ensure that infrastructure investments are consistent and adequate for your community now and in the future.
The Municipality of South Huron, for example, has developed a comprehensive asset management plan along with a guide to assist Council and the public with the terminology used in the plan.
It is also common for some municipalities like the City of Cambridge to develop an annual report for Council to highlight the findings of its asset management plan and any variances. When determining priority projects, recommendations in the plan should be weighed against additional considerations that you have insight into such as:
- Impact on the municipality (reputation; legal) if an infrastructure asset does fail.
- Reliability of critical services, health and safety of residents.
- Leveraging cost saving opportunities and availability of external funding while taking into account the long-term financial implications in terms of whole lifecycle costs associated with providing a new service.
- Avoiding redundancies through multi-year planning by working in an integrated manner across your municipality.
- Community attachment to assets with historical and cultural significance.
- Current demographic profile that helps Council understand future community needs and aspirations, and the current socio-economic conditions in the municipality.
Did you know?
A municipality’s asset management plan is often a single document covering all municipal assets, but for large urban municipalities, plans are sometimes developed at the departmental level. The City of Barrie, for example, with a population of 141,430, developed a Stormwater Asset Management Plan that highlights the state of stormwater assets and the costs associated with mitigating flooding and protecting Lake Simcoe and Little Lake.