The City of Sarnia is developing a corporate asset management plan with its linear infrastructure deficit having ballooned by another $20-million to nearly $260-million.
Council received a snapshot of concepts to help prioritize the replacement of aging assets at a special meeting Monday.
City Engineer Andre Morin says feedback from council will be very important during the process.
"Once we get to the point where we have condition ratings and we know where these assets are at, what condition they're all in and how they compare to one another, we then need to sit with council, with each of these divisions and have them look at the relative importance of each of those divisions," says Morin. "Ultimately, we're bringing to them the assets that are the worst of the worst, almost like a top 100 of each division, and council will help us look at the factors to define which of those projects become the priority that we need to look at."
Morin says there are a lot of failing assets, across the board.
"I've been before council to describe certain aspects; such as shoreline failure, the condition of our roads, the condition of our sewer and water lines. So they're aware there's a lot of deficiencies within our system, but this is bringing it all together for them, to see the whole picture and they need to understand the deficit in the funding that we do have," says Morin.
In 2016, staff reported the cost to replace a backlog of linear infrastructure alone, like roads and sewers, was $235.8-million.
Morin says with another year passing by and the assets continuing to deteriorate, the cost is now estimated at $257-million.
Councillor Anne-Marie Gillis says trying to keep up with the need is like working in quicksand.
"I'm glad to see the financial component," she says. "That's really where the rubber hits the road. We can create as many plans as we want to, but unless we have the monies to do it and unless we have a full understanding of our true financial picture, we're just basically spinning our wheels and creating this illusion that we can actually do something."
Gillis expects the public will be engaged more in the next step.
"Every ten years you have to look to see, are we the same city in 2017 that we were in 2007, or in 1997?" she says.
It's hoped a draft Corporate Asset Management Plan, including the Transit, Engineering and Parks and Recreation Departments will be submitted to council for review and approval next September.