Headline News

Orangeville needs $45-million to upgrade assets over next decade

July 31, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

The latest asset management plan come after many changes from previous suggested plans that had been brought to council.

Akeel Ali of SLBC Inc. presented the most recent plan to Orangeville council during its July 14 meeting.

The overall replacement costs of the town’s core and non-core infrastructure assets is about $1.2 billion.

“For this plan there’s also a number of changes in comparison to the previous plans that were presented to council,” he said. “That includes the addition of natural assets.”

That means street trees and park trees have been incorporated among the assets in the most recent version of the plan. And the asset data has been refined through updated inventories and fine-tuned condition assessments.

Information gleaned from a roads needs study has also been considered.

“In this iteration of the plan we are now looking at proposed service levels, helping to clarify performance expectations, and informed future investment strategies,” Ali said.

Infrastructure throughout Ontario’s municipalities of all sizes is degrading faster than it is being repaired or replaced. So the provincial government implemented regulations intended to help improve the way municipalities plan for their infrastructure.

According to a report to Orangeville council, the regulation builds on the progress municipalities have made while bringing consistency and standardization to asset management plans to help spread best practices throughout the sector and enable the collection of comparable data.

Core assets include roads, bridges, and water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.

Non-core infrastructure encompasses parks, facilities, vehicles, information technology do-dads, the library and its stock, the fire department, transit, and cemetery facilities.

Ali said more than 72 per cent of Orangeville’s municipal assets are in very good or good or fair condition.

“Which reflects positive or a strong state of good repair across the system, generally,” he said.

Twenty-four per cent of assets are in poor or very poor condition, he said.

“Generally speaking, the town has already identified replacement and renewal projects for a lot of these assets,” he said.

The four per cent of assets categorized as being in an unknown condition illustrates the need for ongoing data collection and assessment, he said.

Growth and upgrade needs over the next decade will cost an estimated $44.9 million or $4.5 million annually.

According to a report to council, staff note that the $11 million library expansion was not presented in the 2025-2034 capital program due to funding constraints. It is not reflected in the 2025 Asset Management Plan, but it is important to note as a potential growth project.

“Effective asset management promotes evidence-based decision-making by incorporating risk and criticality into decision-making for annual operations and long-term capital investments,” according to the staff report.

“The 2025 Asset Management Plan is a significant step forward in the town’s journey towards building a holistic culture of asset management.”

The plan is part of an asset management system to support the town’s critical asset management function and provide more and better data for improved decision-making.

Staff have identified an asset renewal funding gap and propose to develop a strategy to narrow this gap during 2026 budget development.

“The condition of the town’s assets over the next 10 years is expected to have a slight deterioration,” Ali said.

And further, he said: “Essentially, if the town maintains its current funding levels it will continue to fall further behind and set itself up for higher risk such as emergency repairs and a higher cost of overall service delivery.”

Ali said the town will continue to update its management plan to ensure it is responsive to community expectations and operational realities.

Readers Comments (0)