Potential municipal asset…

Potential municipal asset management planning regulation

In agreement with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the City of Kenora is concerned with the potential municipal asset management planning regulation in terms of the potential cost, and the proposed timeline. In addition, the City of Kenora is also concerned with their ability to modify their asset management plan to suit their needs while maintaining compliance with Ontario regulations. The additional costs likely would derive from the time and expertise required for reporting and compliance, as well as differing data collection from the City’s current criteria.

Since the City of Kenora has completed asset management plans in the past, there is significant historical data that would be used going forward to evaluate historical projections against actuals. The City is concerned that it is possible that the new Asset Management Plan regulations could change the way the City collects their data, making historical asset management plan projection data unusable. The City’s current asset management policy requires an updated plan every three years which City staff determined to be realistic in terms of current staff’s ability to update and ensure accurate data. The new potential regulation could change the performance measures that have already been adopted by the city, requiring that processes must also change, which can add implementation costs.

The City’s current asset management plan was completed by Public Sector Digest which should exceed all provincial requirements, however the additional compliance reporting to the province could add significant capacity issues with current staff or increase costs as there may be a requirement to hire additional staff.

The City is concerned that a provincial regulation wouldn’t consider the different challenges small Northern Ontario municipalities face in terms of the availability of consultants and contractors to provide the services in our area, as well as the increased costs we have to get them here. Would additional funding be available from the province to help meet these new requirements?

Without a provincial regulation, the City of Kenora had already identified the need for adequate asset management planning and took the steps to create a comprehensive plan suited to the city’s needs and within proposed budgets. A potential blanket regulation in Ontario could limit the City’s ability to structure their Asset management plan to fit their needs while still staying within an appropriate cost.

[Original Comment ID: 210258]