Asset Management

Asset Management

On this page

1. Introduction
2. What is an Asset Management Plan?
3. State of Infrastructure Report
4. Other News

Introduction

What is Asset Management?

Asset management involves the balancing of costs, opportunities and risks against the desired performance of assets, to achieve the organizational objectives. 

At the City of Peterborough, we practice asset management in various ways:

• Budgeting for the end-of-life activities for our assets such as road re-construction, replacing old playground equipment, replacing underground sewer pipes, or replacing an old roof of a facility
• Operation and maintenance work at our facilities such as replacing filters and belts on HVAC equipment, minor equipment repairs, regular testing of back-up generators, implementing inspection and maintenance programs on fire and life safety equipment and elevators, and grass cutting
• Regular operating activities on our roads such as snow clearing, street sweeping and regular inspections to ensure our roads are safe to drive on
• Recognizing the importance of incorporating green infrastructure assets, including natural assets, into the City's Asset Management Plan. A Natural Asset Summary of Inventory Results and Implications report was developed in partnership with the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative (MNAI), which will assist in defining processes and methodologies for further identification of assets, ownership boundaries, service(s) provided, condition, valuation and risk management.

Asset management is about making the right decisions at the right time, and optimizing the delivery of value.

Regulatory Requirements

Recent provincial regulations have mandated municipalities to prepare a Strategic Asset Management Policy and Asset Management Plan which focuses on strengthening organizational cultures and ensuring that evidence-based planning is utilized to support the right investments at the right time.

The City of Peterborough adopted its Asset Management Policy and Procedure as the Strategic Asset Management Policy in 2018.  It outlines the purpose and our commitment towards better asset management planning practices.

What is an Asset Management Plan?

An Asset Management Plan outlines the activities required to manage assets over its entire lifecycle in a cost-effective manner.  An  Asset Management Plan typically includes the following elements: 

• Introduction
• State of Infrastructure
• Levels of Service
• Growth and Demand
• Lifecycle Management
• Risk
• Climate Change
• Financial Summary
• Plan Improvement

The City of Peterborough's Council approved Asset Management Plan promotes evidence-based decision making and considers strategies to extend the lifecycle of assets to deliver services while minimizing risk.

State of Infrastructure Report

The State of Infrastructure Report provides a high-level summary of the service areas included in the Asset Management Plan.  The results of the State of Infrastructure Report is based on the following elemental questions:

What do we own?

The current Asset Management Plan reports City owned assets that fall into the following service areas:

• Roads and Related Assets
• Stormwater
• Wastewater
• Peterborough Transit
• Solid Waste Management
• Social Housing
• Recreation
• Peterborough Airport
• Urban Forest
• Social Services - Daycare
• Arts, Culture and Heritage
• Public Works
• Emergency Services (Fire and Police Services)
• Information Technology Services (ITS)
• Administration Facilities

What is the replacement value?

The total replacement value of all assets reported in the Asset Management Plan (2023 valuation) is an estimated

$6.3 billion.

A breakdown of the total replacement value by Service Area is shown in the table below:

What is the condition?

Using a 5-point rating scale, condition ratings are assigned to assets across all service areas. Ratings assigned are based on using a blend of actual observations and age-based data where actual condition information is not available. The overall distributed condition and replacement value of all City-owned assets is shown in the table below:

Understanding Risk

The City uses a risk rating methodology to assign a risk score to each asset included in the Asset Management Plan.

The risk ratings are composed of two factors:

1. Asset condition
2. Consequence of failure 

The asset condition informs the likelihood that an asset will fail, and the consequence of failure informs the impact resulting from the failure.

In addition to the asset condition, other asset information, such as size and material, was considered when assigning a risk score where possible.

The consequence of failure of an asset is assessed on a five-point scale that evaluates the impacts on the following factors: 

• Environmental
• Life Safety
• Economical
• Legislative/Regulation
• Social
• Reputation

The City currently owns an estimated $788 million worth of high-risk assets.

Other news

Closing the Gap - Unleashing Economic Potential through Strategic Land Uses and Infrastructure

An insightful and thought-provoking discussion that expands our community's perspectives on land use patterns and their role in economic development and prosperity for the City of Peterborough

On Tuesday, May 28, 2024, the City of Peterborough hosted “Closing the gap - Unleashing economic potential through strategic land uses and infrastructure”, a discussion about approaches to land use planning and infrastructure investment decisions that maximize economic potential.

Hosted by the City’s Infrastructure, Planning and Growth Management team, the session explored the intersection of land use concepts, infrastructure investment decisions and the associated return on those investments. The session enhanced participants’ understanding of how our community has grown over time and how different development patterns create different fiscal scenarios. 

The session included a presentation from urban planning thought-leader Joe Minicozzi, the principal of Urban3, a leading geo-accounting and land value economics firm. Not only is he a sought-after lecturer on city planning issues, with work featured in numerous journals and international conferences, Minicozzi was recently recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Urbanists past and present.

Minicozzi’s presentation was followed by an expert panel discussion featuring James Jorgensen, Senior Partner with GEI Consulting; Paul Bennett, President of Ashburnham Realty; and Jamey Coughlin, Director of Business Expansion and Attraction with Peterborough and the Kawarthas Economic Development. The discussion was moderated by Michael Papadacos, Director of Asset Management and Capital Planning with the City of Peterborough, who was later joined by Brad Appleby, Director of Planning, Development and Urban Design for a Q&A session.

“This was an engaging and informative session for all who attended, and we look forward to continuing to share this story with everyone in our community. Whether you’re a developer, a builder, a planner or someone who is simply interested in the future of the City of Peterborough’s infrastructure management and fiscal sustainability, this video is a must watch,” said Michael Papadacos. “Like many cities across Canada and North America, our community is facing a massive infrastructure funding gap, and it is critically important to understand what factors are driving this predicament so we can start making land use decisions that will start closing this gap.”

Watch the recorded panel discussion video and slideshow presentation below to find out more.

The above presentation of "Closing the Gap - Unleashing Economic Potential through Strategic Land Uses and Infrastructure" is built on the previous years' event "Mapping the Dollars and Sense of Land Use Patterns".  A recording of that event can be viewed below.

Mapping the Dollars and Sense of Land Use Patterns

A discussion about financially sustainable approaches to land use planning.

With the numerous complex challenges facing municipalities – ranging from significant infrastructure investment backlogs to pervasive social issues to building resilience in the face of changing climate patterns – it is crucial that we are using evidence-based decision making when planning our collective future. Data-driven approaches can help us break the cycle of unproductive narratives that lock us in to the status quo that has created the problems we are now trying to solve.

Within the City of Peterborough, we are facing an almost $70M annual funding gap to maintain our existing infrastructure in a state of good repair and provide the infrastructure required to meet the needs of a growing community. Every year we fail to make those investments, that gap grows. There are only two ways out of this hole – more funding (e.g. higher taxes), or reduced levels of service – and neither one of those options is particularly desirable.

How did we get here?

What are the underlying causes of how we have ended up with such a backlog of required investment?

And more importantly, what can we do differently today that helps us start reversing this trend and places future generations of residents and business in a more economically sustainable position?

On April 12, 2023, the City of Peterborough hosted a panel discussion that explored land use concepts aimed at ensuring the efficient use of infrastructure and properly projecting costs over the lifetime of an asset, with a goal of alleviating funding shortfalls.

The keynote speaker, Cate Ryba, Chief Operating Officer and Planner with Urban3, has extensive experience with local government finance and policy, urban design and economic development. Cate is a founder of the Building Our City lecture series, which features national experts on urban design, planning, placemaking, transportation and other community development topics to explore the role of thoughtful design in building livable communities.

The expert panel discussions featured James Jorgensen, Senior Partner with GM BluePlan and Board Member of the Institute of Asset Management Canada, Rhonda Keenan, President and CEO of Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development and Paul Bennett, President of Ashburnham Realty.