Managing Vaughan’s assets

March 10, 2022 10:00 a.m.
Asset Management Plans outline how the City will maintain, restore and replace roads, buildings, parks and more

Just like your home and car, the City of Vaughan’s assets – from roads to buildings to parks and more – require maintenance and eventually replacement or rehabilitation over time. To plan for the future, the City is proactively and responsibly managing its infrastructure assets so citizens can continue to access world-class amenities and receive high-quality public services for years to come.
 
Vaughan delivers a wide range of services to residents, including providing clean drinking water, managing wastewater and stormwater systems, maintaining safe roadways, operating community centres, libraries, parks, fire and rescue services and so much more. Municipal assets, such as traffic lights, roads, bridges, buildings, watermains, vehicles, parks, trees, computer equipment and others, are the infrastructure that supports the delivery of all City services.
 
Through Asset Management Plans, the City is detailing how it will maintain, manage, restore and replace these assets, when required, to ensure continued service delivery, a healthy environment and economic vitality for current and future generations.
 
What are municipal assets?
As outlined in Ontario Regulation 588/17, assets are categorized into two classes – core assets or non-core assets. Core asset classes include water, wastewater, stormwater, roads, bridges and major culverts. Examples of non-core assets include facilities, buildings, parks, forestry and fleet assets. All assets, no matter their class, are the property of the municipality.
 
What is an Asset Management Plan?
Asset Management Plans are approaches for managing and investing in municipal infrastructure, including how the City acquires, operates, maintains and replaces assets when required. These plans feature a capital needs analysis for the next 20 years for each asset, which include:
  • performing an inventory of all City-owned assets
  • assessing current condition, performance abilities and lifecycle forecasting of all City-owned assets
  • estimating projected growth and annual costs of all City-owned assets
 
The plans also answer questions, such as:
  • When does this watermain need to be replaced?
  • How often does a road need to be repaved? 
  • What happens when a crack appears in a sidewalk?
 
What is the current state of the City’s core infrastructure?
An assessment of the City’s core assets was recently completed. It concludes the City’s core infrastructure is relatively young, with more than 90 per cent of assets in “good” or “very good” condition. In addition, the City’s current capital reinvestment rate remains sufficient based on funds budgeted over the last five years.
 
An Asset Management Plan for the City’s non-core assets will be completed before July 2024.
 
Why is the City creating Asset Management Plans?
Asset Management Plans are an example of the City’s commitment to good governance – they determine how the City will afford to maintain, rehabilitate and replace assets in the future, allowing the City to properly budget for these costs. They are also important to produce because if the entire inventory of the City’s infrastructure were to be replaced today, it would cost more than $9 billion. Although the expected service life of assets are decades long, they will inevitably need to be replaced. And the older these assets get, the more they cost to maintain. These plans are developed to help manage and maintain these assets according to their lifecycle.
 
The Province of Ontario also requires all municipalities to create and share asset management policies and plans.
 
What are the benefits of an Asset Management Plan?
By properly managing assets, the City will achieve:
  • economic benefits, including reduced costs and optimized spending based on asset lifecycles.
  • social benefits, including reduced disruptions to residents and sustained service levels.
  • environmental benefits, including reduced environmental impacts through scope and timing considerations.
 
Where can citizens find more information on Asset Management Plans?
View the staff report – which was recently endorsed by Vaughan Council – for more information. Details are also posted at vaughan.ca/AssetManagement and are illustrated in this video.
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