Committee approves City’s Asset Management Plans

The Finance and Corporate Services Committee today approved the 2025 Asset Management Plans (AMPs), ensuring the City’s compliance with provincial O.Reg 588/17: Asset Management Planning for Municipal Infrastructure. The City owns and manages more than $90 billion in infrastructure assets that support essential municipal services, including roads, water and wastewater systems, transit, recreation, libraries and emergency services. The City’s asset management plans show the City’s assets to be safe and functional, with no imminent risk to day-to-day service delivery. The 2025 AMPs mark a significant milestone for Ottawa, representing the first time comprehensive and standardized data on all municipal assets has been consolidated into a single, unified framework that connects asset condition and target levels of service with forecasted investment. This information will help the City track trends and optimize use of its assets. The AMPs forecast a $10.8-billion service gap between projected infrastructure needs and planned funding over the next 10 years. Infrastructure needs are those critical to reaching target levels of service related to growth, enhancement and renewal, as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation costs. This mirrors challenges reported by other Ontario municipalities and underscores the long-term need for a new funding framework to support municipal infrastructure. The City will use its Long-Range Financial Plans and other strategic documents to manage its infrastructure so that it remains resilient and responsive to community needs. This will include managing risk by coordinating maintenance, capital planning and long-term financial strategies. The City will continue to prioritize its highest risk assets and essential services while adapting to changing needs and relying on public input. It will also consider how to optimize current assets and service delivery approaches. This planning ensures the City can make informed, transparent, evidence-based decisions that balance affordability, safety and service delivery. While the regulation requires a full update every five years, staff recommend returning with an Asset Management Plan update in 2028, and every four years thereafter, to ensure timely attention to emerging trends and to communicate the impact of changing circumstances. Long Range Financial Plan gets approval The Committee also approved the City’s Long Range Financial Plan for water, wastewater and stormwater rate supported programs. It provides a funding strategy that supports the operating and capital requirements for the water, wastewater and stormwater programs for the next 10 years, and supports the AMPs. The City has more than $8.06 billion in assets and manages 9,600 kilometers of water, wastewater and stormwater pipes, as well as two water purification plants, a sewage treatment plant, 86 pump stations and more than 6,600 culverts. For water, wastewater and stormwater services, the AMPs identified a 10-year capital requirement of $6.3 billion for all assets. A priority needs assessment reduced that amount to $4 billion, the bulk of which is needed for renewal. Another $234 million is required for growth projects while $158 million is needed for enhancements and regulatory requirements. To fund these required needs, more than $3 billion of funding would be raised from water, wastewater and stormwater revenues, and more than $1.7 billion would be funded from issuing new debt. The revenues would be raised by increasing rates for the services. The City estimates that the average annual increase would be five per cent over the 10 years, representing an increase of about $5 more per month for the average residential property. Debt would be issued for terms that match the life of the assets they are funding, which not only reduces the annual operating impact of borrowing but also ensures that infrastructure investments are paid for by the future generations that will benefit from these assets. Committee receives Q1 budget status update The Committee also received an update on the City’s first quarter Tax, Transit and Rate Supported Programs Operating and Capital Budget Status. The City is looking at a deficit of $14 million for the first quarter, driven primarily by higher-than-expected costs for winter operations and the $1.7-million deficit in Transit Services. The City continues to monitor external factors, such as the impacts of tariffs and the elimination of the federal carbon tax on April 1. The Q2 Status Report will provide a better indication of the City’s financial situation and will include a forecast to the end of the year. These items will rise to Council on Wednesday, June 11. Related topics

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