10/03/2026
Asset Management 101!
The City of Belleville owns almost 4 Billion dollars in assets. Thats collectively all of our investment.
In my daily business that’s the same as a condo building, infrastructure parking lots, elevators.. etc.. We in the condominium industry, by law, have to do a Reserve fund study every 3 years to develop a funding plan for major repair and replacement of the assets..,to know how much money will be needed to fund repairs and replacement once they reach their natural life expectancy… this study tells us each month/year how much has to be put in a separate account to fund the assets..
Asset and Asset Management Plan at the City is no different, just a whole lot more of it.
Wowzaaa a lot more!
The City of Belleville uses an asset management plan to do just that… to plan and maintain the infrastructure and the equipment and everything listed as an asset to the city, that delivers community services, roads, sidewalks, snow removal, transit, water systems and more. This ensures residents get reliable services..,risks are minimized and costs are managed responsibly.
This makes sure there’s enough plows to plow the snow, the water pipes can deliver water when you turn on the tap, or when you flush…yikes…we don’t even want to think about that not working..😉
So.. What is Asset Management?
Asset management is a planning process that makes sure the City can provide all the services such as snow removal, transit and clean drinking water, all while balancing what the community expects with available funding and risk. That’s the plan part… in order to execute the plan you need equipment…
These services depend on assets like snowplows, roads, buses and water pipes, which need REGULAR repairs and replacement.
Good asset management tries to keep costs low while keeping services at a safe and acceptable level. This is a tough balance….
Some Important things to know include:
What assets the City owns, including their condition, replacement cost and expected lifespan…
What services the assets currently provide…
Whether those services meet the community’s needs or not. …
That takes me to the
Levels of Service.
(LOS) measure how well City services perform… all the services they provide…such as the condition of roads or how quickly snow is cleared from streets and sidewalks.
Tracking LOS helps connect City spending to the services residents receive and makes decision-making more transparent.
There’s that word again, we as councillors have to track this in order to make sure the city is providing the level of service in our community, for our community… you as tax payers can see all this tracking on line.
Service levels are grouped into these categories:
Capacity: Services are available and accessible to everyone
Function: Services meet people’s needs and reduce health, safety, environmental and heritage impacts
Reliability and Quality: Services are steady, predictable and responsive
Affordability: Services are funded for the long term and financially sustainable
The City works to improve asset management, considering outside factors like climate change and funding from other levels of government. Planning aims to reduce the impact of these factors while keeping service levels on track and following the Strategic Asset Management Policy
In June 2025, council approved the 2025 Asset Management Plan - a 10 year picture of what we need in 10’years and what kind of money is needed to keep this machine of a city working…
Proposed Levels of Service…. It showed the City will need just under $199 million per year over the next 10 years to meet the proposed service levels.
The City expects to have just over $168 million per year, leaving a $30-million funding gap annually. …Funding gaps are not fun… it means that at each budget cycle the plan has to be looked at to see how we can move the money from somewhere ? Get longer life out of equipment? Cut services? Find upper level of government funds? So many things to look at .. rather than just ask tax payers for it..
As part of the 2025 capital budget, council approved the first ever 10-year capital plan and funding strategy, based on current service levels and past recommendations from the 2024 Asset Management Plan.
This is good planning, you wouldn’t run your household not knowing how old your wiring is or your furnace life … really the same approach..
The plan will be updated regularly to reflect community priorities and current asset needs.
Each year the council of the day will have to look at it and make hard decisions..
The City reports annually by July 1 on progress toward proposed service levels and updates …the Asset Management Plan every five years.
Community feedback helps ensure City plans match what residents want. So please engage when we reach out. … because we do reach out.. watch for the info.
Risk and Condition Assessment
condition(s) are usually checked through detailed studies. Where that isn’t possible, the City uses an age-based method, rating assets as very poor, poor, fair, good or very good.
The chart really tells the tale..
The risk of an asset failing is measured by how likely it is to fail and the impact of failure.
Likelihood is based on condition, usage etc,.
Impacts are rated across five areas: service, economic, health and safety, environment and social.
Assets may be assigned a risk score from 1 to 25, with 1 being the lowest risk and 25 the highest.
This whole assessment lays out for council very effectively all the city owns collectively, when it’s going to fail, how much money we need to replace, when replacement is warranted, should we continue with it.., etc etc etc .. this is not a guessing game it weighted in facts.
All councillors current and new will go through this same process, that’s our job. This council work is a team sport, we all process information a bit differently which allows good dialogue and questions.. at the end of the day we as council have to recommend
What services the assets should provide, while balancing community expectations, costs and risks..
you can help each and everyone of us with these decisions.. just have a look at these plans we publish, ask questions, get to know what the city owns.. I truly believe it will be an eye opener. 😊thanks for letting me provide my little education pieces because I think they are important!
