King Township must spend millions more yearly to keep assets in good order

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 22, 2016
By Tim Kelly

Your township will need to ramp up its investment in roads and buildings by millions of dollars per year if it wants to maintain service levels citizens in King expect.

That was one of the conclusions reached when an Asset Management Plan was explained by consultants to King Council at a township meeting earlier this month.

After accounting for $504 million in assets currently owned by the township (in municipal buildings, roads and infrastructure), assessing their condition, and describing exactly how much would need to be spent to keep them in good working order, consultants told council $9.4 million would need to be invested annually to do so.

The problem is, the current rate of asset investment is $5.6 million, a shortfall of $3.8 million per year.

In order for assets to not deteriorate into the "poor" category where they need to be replaced at much higher cost than upgraded for less money, more must be spent annually said the consultants.

"We recognize that, we know what our needs are and we know that we're going to have to invest," Councillor Bill Cober said.

Armed with the new Asset Management Plan, council approved it going forward and will use software to assess assets for new projects in future.