Big things

Council gets an estimate of the size of its roads problem and what will be needed to fix it

The County is responsible for the maintenance and lifecycle management of 1,047 kilometres of public roadway assets, of which 342 kilometres are asphalt and 523 kilometres are surface treated. About 90 per cent of municipal roads are in the countryside.

The municipality currently spends an average of about $8 million per year maintaining its roads. It’s not enough. Council has known this for over a decade, but lacks the money to fund them. County roads are considered in ‘fair’ condition with a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of 62.

A new roads discussion paper outlines a few options about how Council might improve them. It is part of a broader municipal exercise to understand its assets (tangible things) and figure out how they might sustain them—and fund them. (Spoiler alert: it will be expensive.)

Broadly speaking, the municipality must spend $25 million a year, every year, to achieve a PCI of 83. An alternative—spending $20 million per year—will marginally improve the County’s PCI to 68. Council learned last week that neighbouring jurisdictions maintain their roads with an average PCI of about 71.

“Basically, this is how are we going to maintain these assets in order to get the most useful life out of them at the lowest possible cost,” explained Arryn McNichol, acting Director of Finance. “What are we going to renew, how are we going to maintain, and how are we going to replace the different items.”

Several council members applauded the Director’s explanation and methodology, even with the difficult prescription.

“This is brutally honest,” acknowledged Hillier councillor Chris Braney. “We need this honesty, for it gives us an opportunity to look at other assets we might part with to make this plan happen.”

McNichol isn’t proposing to load up the roads spending all in one go, but ease it in over 10 years. To do this, he is proposing a 3.81 per cent increase to the tax levy next year and every year thereafter for a decade. By then, with the benefit of compounding, the tax levy will be $25 million higher than it is today—and every year thereafter.

“The plan proposes a phased approach where the levy would increase next year and continue to grow incrementally each year,” said McNichol. “This allows the County to close the gap over a 10-year period while balancing service needs and financial sustainability for taxpayers.”

McNichol said the phased approach is needed to make it more manageable for the community while still achieving the goal over the longer term.

He added that it was likely that funding from senior levels of government and development charges could offset some of the hit to taxpayers. Selling assets might also help.

FUTURE SESSIONS
A second working session to be held on May 15 will focus on bridges, as well as facilities/buildings and equipment. The June 12 session will focus on the fleet of vehicles (fire and general), as well as parks and recreation.

COMMS
The Acting Director of Finance understands his team has a big task in communicating these concepts, the challenges and the funding proposals to fix them. The County’s Director of Community Services, Programs and Initiatives, Emily Cowan, will head up “a robust communications campaign leading up to the August meeting.”

She plans to use Shire Hall’s Have Your Say feedback site, social media, its municipal newsletter, and public pop-ups to gather information.

“We are going to be asking the public about their satisfaction with municipal services and assets, suggestions for services and asset improvements, expectations for levels of service, willingness to pay to maintain these levels of service or to increase levels of service, and service priorities for funding allocations,” said Cowan.