They say knowledge is power, and Tiny Township council became a little more educated about their infrastructure this past week.
The asset management plan for 2024 in Tiny had an upgrade due to updated information current to November 2023, and the resulting corporate services department report was presented to council at the recent meeting.
Due to the legislative requirement for municipalities to update their asset management plans from the previous report in 2022, of which Tiny’s contained the township’s level of service for core assets, the 2024 report updated those assets and included non-core assets as well.
Said director of corporate services and Deputy CAO Haley Leblond: “The asset management plan is used for the basis of calculating our CCBF, which is the Canada Community Building Fund allocation, as well as OCIF, the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund. Both of those require the asset management report to be submitted in order for those to be allocated.
“Aside from this requirement, the township has gone above and beyond the requirements for 2024 by completing and updating several items within the report. These include: information with best available and refined data on the state of infrastructure for core assets; the current level of service for core assets; life cycle models and costs; growth impacts; as well as a financial strategy which is actually not required until 2025.”
In 2022, Tiny council and residents received an eye-opener when that plan revealed the municipality had been underfunding their estimated $320 million in assets by two-thirds, requiring an $11.9 million average annual requirement for reinvestment.
As per the 2024 report, that calculation was down to $11.6 million; however, the cost to replace the township’s assets was listed at $342 million. Leblond noted that roads consisted of $186 million (54%) of infrastructure in Tiny, and water-related assets were 20% ($67.5 million).
Leblond stated, “60 per cent of the portfolio has a good condition assessment; remaining is 40 per cent. 62 per cent of the assets are in fair-or-better condition; 38 per cent of the assets are in poor or very poor condition, and our average annual funding deficit is 51 per cent. Again, that’s based on actual numbers, and that is reflective – and we have put it in the report – sometimes projects are deferred, delayed, or direction is changed. That is why there is a difference.”
Staff recommended an earmark of an annual 2.39 per cent tax rate increase as “the line drawn in the sand” to close the gap for tax-funded assets, but Leblond stressed repeatedly that it was only a recommendation for council to consider at budget discussion time.
Members of council were highly appreciative of the report’s contents.
Deputy Mayor Sean Miskimins pointed out that roughly 40 per cent of the estimates in the report were based on approximate age where condition assessment data was unavailable, and looked forward to when that remainder could be properly assessed.
“As we start to look toward multi-year budgeting, this is the kind of data that we need in order to make decisions in order to continue to ensure that the township prospers,” said Miskimins. “Hopefully, the 62 per cent in fair-or-better condition continues to rise, lessening the overall future tax burdens that residents will face.”
Mayor Dave Evans addressed the hefty funding gap in his comments.
“I know we still have to get to $11.6 in some way or some format, but it might be something to consider that… we have taken steps already to pass along those… taxes have gone up largely due to inflation. We have seen a reciprocal effect, a mirror effect, in our capital expenditure,” said Evans.
“This is the crux of our whole company, basically. This is where our money goes.”
Some confusion was raised regarding two options in the report’s recommendations: that council adopt the plan with the 2.39 per cent earmark; or for council to adopt the plan but with a different direction to address the deficit. The conversation was resolved when Miskimins received clarification that the report just needed to be received for staff to move forward, which Leblond verified, emphasizing once more that council could revise the earmark during the 2025 budget discussions.
The 2024 asset management plan can be viewed within the agenda page located on the Tiny Township website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on Tiny township’s YouTube channel.
