Considering Municipal Assets

SHCA presents at a program hosted by the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School for Public Policy

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What’s the most expensive thing you own?

Answers are likely as varied as the people you ask. You might hear about cosmetic items like an evening gown or a three-piece suit. Perhaps designer shoes or bags or jewelry are tucked away only to make appearances for special occasions.

But let’s not overlook the big-ticket items like a house or a vehicle. They’re often not as flashy, but certainly every bit as important when it comes to care and attention.

Posing the same question to elected officials like mayors or city councillors and Shantel Lipp, the president of the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association, would hope to hear answers like roads, bridges and sewer lines. After all, those critical pieces of infrastructure are, in fact, assets owned by municipal governments.

“Having councils understand the importance of knowing what assets they have and understanding the need to maintain those assets allows for better planning and spending of taxpayer dollars,” she said.

This was theme of Lipp’s presentation at a recent three-day municipal governance program hosted by the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School for Public Policy (JSGS).

The school boasts a well-established three-day governance training course for the public sector. It wanted to morph that same concept into a three-day course for municipal governments, where many of the concepts share a familiar refrain from a “how do you govern yourself” perspective.

The introduction to the course reads:

It is estimated that municipalities either own or are responsible for up to 60 per cent of Canada’s public infrastructure. In addition to being the means by which many important local services are delivered, much of this infrastructure is essential to the economic prosperity, health and quality of life of the province.

A large portion of the infrastructure in Canada is nearing the end of its useful life. Despite some important investments that have been made over the past five to 10 years through joint federal/provincial/municipal programs, much of Saskatchewan’s municipal infrastructure dates from the 1950s and 1960s.

Citizen expectations continue to grow and evolve. This combined with the dual challenges of the small tax base in many communities and significant increases for renewal and replacement costs going forward make for very difficult discussions and decisions locally.

Thus, it’s a prime opportunity for SHCA to make its voice heard at such a program.

Day 1 topics would include discussions around governance – what is it and why does it matter? There’s a session that encompasses strategy, policy, people and resource allocation, with a third session focused on evaluation, monitoring performance and reporting results.

A large chunk of the second day is centred on infrastructure stewardship. Four kinds of municipal infrastructure categories are the focus for discussion – potable water and wastewater, solid waste and recreational infrastructure facilities.

The fourth kind of municipal infrastructure focused on transportation, with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and SHCA each speaking to this.

SHCA presented a video and honed in on the aspect of asset management being a valuable way for municipalities to fulfill their stewardship responsibilities and to best take care of business.

Keith Comstock is a career civil servant who spent eight-plus years as assistant deputy minister in the Ministry of Government Relations. He now works at JSGS under the school’s executive director Doug Moen, a long-time friend and former deputy minister to the premier.

“It’s important that elected officials realize things like bridges, sewer lines and roads are, in fact, municipal assets. When they understand this, they can also leverage the knowledge and innovation available within our industry to help them maintain and replace those assets.”

– Shantel Lipp, SHCA

Comstock says the program being offered allows municipalities to see it as a way of not only learning their responsibilities but also a means of dealing with internal issues they might have.

He acknowledged the fact there’s an infrastructure deficit in Saskatchewan.

“I don’t think anyone would ever deny that. Nobody has ever been able to quantify it to anyone’s satisfaction because you have to define what it is you’re actually counting…We need to get on with prioritization and figuring out what it is we’re going to do to try to keep the wheels moving.”

At the conclusion of the program, each municipality, now armed with more knowledge of how to approach asset management, will now challenge itself to answer, “What are we going to do about it?”

“It’s important that elected officials realize things like bridges, sewer lines and roads are, in fact, municipal assets,” said Lipp. “When they understand this, they can also leverage the knowledge and innovation available within our industry to help them maintain and replace those assets.”

That would provide stability to road building industry. If an industry knows there are finances set aside in an infrastructure fund, then they have some assurance of work in the future.

“Sustained, strategic spending on infrastructure keeps municipalities from incurring an infrastructure deficit, meaning it prevents unplanned spending of major dollars to fix their roads because of sink holes, underground utilities due to pipes corroding and bursting and bridges collapsing,” she said.