HALDIMAND—Haldimand Council got a good update on their years-in-development Asset Management Plan (AMP) ahead of their summer recess, providing insight into Haldimand’s assets, infrastructure, and the projected $3.78 billion it would cost to replace it all.
Presenting to Council was Israr Ahmed, Director of Integrated Product Development for plan proponent PSD Citywide Inc. Ahmed noted that the update represents the second of three plan updates required by the provincial government.
Each of those three versions increase in complexity, with the first version submitted in 2022 focusing on how Haldimand’s core infrastructure assets were performing in the field.
“The 2024 version is very similar, except it now includes your core and non-core. Things get a bit more difficult next year with the final iteration of this AMP initiative, with the development of a plan that looks at all of your assets and what’s called ‘proposed level of service’,” said Ahmed.
Core assets included in the plan are roads, bridges and culverts, stormwater, water network, and sanitary infrastructure, while non-core assets include vehicles, facilities, machinery and equipment, and land improvements.
Ahmed noted that the purpose to the tiered AMP is to effectively determine the most efficient way to use County funds toward various infrastructure programs, keeping costs as low as possible while satisfying the needs of constituents.
Below is a breakdown of Haldimand’s $3.78 billion in projected replacement costs:
- Road network: $1.265 billion
- Water network: $1.03 billion
- Sanitary network: $391.5 million
- Buildings: $295.7 million
- Bridges and culverts: $267.2 million
- Storm network: $225 million
- Land improvements: $187.1 million
- Vehicles $61.9 million
- Machinery and Equipment: $52 million
Ahmed projected that the majority of Haldimand’s future costs would be associated with core infrastructure.
“This is a pretty standard trend we see with most municipalities; your road networks are usually the biggest infrastructure program offered by municipalities,” he noted. “The good news is that the overall condition of your infrastructure is in pretty good shape. There might be some specific examples where this is not the case, but 87% of your infrastructure is in fair or better condition.”
Keeping those assets in workable shape requires annual investment, with the standard required rate for municipalities in Canada averaging about $85.5 million a year. However, according to data provided in the plan, most municipalities are dramatically below that level of funding, Haldimand included. On average, municipalities are funding about 44% of their capital requirements on an annual basis.
“When we looked at Haldimand County, you’re pretty much in line with our sample base. You’re funding about 41% of your annual needs, that turns out to be about $35 million that you are allocating on an annual basis,” said Ahmed.
Aging infrastructure has been a major issue of consideration across the province in recent years, with ongoing work to fix the Gardiner Expressway into Toronto slowing traffic to a crawl daily for commuters and a burst water pipe in Calgary leading to weeks’ worth of water restrictions impacting the entire city as just two recent examples of failing infrastructure impacting daily life for Canadians.
Despite being slightly below average on its funding level, Ahmed noted Haldimand’s assets are in slightly better condition than the average. Of the 40 municipalities PSD has worked with so far, “20% of the assets in our sample base so far are in poor or worse condition, but as we saw, 87% of yours are in fair or better, which means about 13% of Haldimand’s assets are in poor or worse conditions.”
He said on one front, Haldimand is “amongst a select group of municipalities that have a dedicated infrastructure levy that’s already in place. You’ve recognized the deficit, and you are making good decisions in planning for the future by putting in a 1% dedicated tax levy.” Additionally, Haldimand is increasing “utility rates by 2.2% on your water side, which is also proactive. This is going to let you close some infrastructure deficits over a long period of time.”
Ahmed said the County has options to accelerate that process to within 10 years by increasing tax rates by 2%, an additional 3.7% increase for water, and 1.5% for wastewater. However, he called using such increases a delicate situation. According to the updated plan, short phase-in periods could place too high a burden on taxpayers too quickly, whereas a phase-in period beyond 20 years could see a continued deterioration of infrastructure.
If the County were to take the long approach, “You are likely looking at growing your backlog and deferring projects, and maybe even seeing a reduced level of service for your community today.”
Part of the final, 2025 version of the plan will include an updated financial strategy to reach a sustainable level of funding based on proposed levels of service, whether that is to increase or decrease.
He noted that the current version is merely a “snapshot in time” based on current available data.
“The public needs to know the restraints you’re facing as Council in delivering on some of the expectations that they always have,” he said.
He offered the following advice in conclusion: “Not all assets are created equal; there are important differences between them based on a number of factors…. That’s one of our core prescriptive recommendations that we give to municipalities. You’ve got limited funds. Where do you spend them?”
Council voted unanimously in favour of receiving the updated plan, with the final version due by July 1, 2025.
