The 10-year cost to maintain and replace city-owned infrastructure has skyrocketed from an estimated $726 million in the 2024 capital budget to $872 million according to a report headed to council next week.
Staff is about to publish the 2024 asset management plan, which provides a summary of city owned and operated infrastructure like roads, bridges and water services and rates its condition to determine when it will need to be fixed or replaced.
An interim look at the plan has determined the average condition of the city's infrastructure is "good" but the number of assets rated good or very good has fallen from 74 per cent in 2017 to 70 per cent this year.
Likewise, only seven per cent of city-owned assets were considered in poor or very poor condition in 2017.
That number has since increased to 14 per cent along with the replacement value of the worst of the city's assets from $228 million in 2017 to $587 million as of 2023.
The total cost to maintain current levels of service across all service areas, while accommodating for growth and increased service needs, is $872 million between 2024 and 2033, the report says.
This compares to the 2024 capital budget forecast which estimated the 10-year cost at $726 million.
"Current levels of funding are insufficient to maintain the current levels of service," the report says.
The city introduced a 1.25 per cent infrastructure levy this year to deal with some of those expenses.
It will add over $1.3 million to the city's coffers this year to help reduce the funding gap between savings and the cost of maintain or replacing $4.2 billion in city-owned infrastructure.
The report says the city will present a special infrastructure levy to council to consider again during the 2025 budget as the city continues to work towards fully funding the infrastructure gap.
