As Whistler continues to figure out how best to approach its aging infrastructure, the municipality’s asset management plans are getting a funding boost.
West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP Patrick Weiler announced Friday, Jan. 28 that the federal government is investing a total of $145,600 into Sea to Sky communities through the Municipal Asset Management Program.
“The past few months have reinforced the importance of having public infrastructure that will support long-term sustainability and create healthy communities where all residents can thrive,” said Weiler in a release, citing assets like roads, buildings and wastewater systems. “The Municipal Asset Management Program provides tools and training to help local governments make sound, data-driven decisions about their investments, ultimately leading to better results for all residents.”
That investment breaks down to $50,000 for the District of Squamish, $45,600 for the Village of Pemberton and $50,000 for the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW). That grant will help fund improvements to the RMOW’s asset management systems, in particular.
It marks a continuation of the previous asset management investment plan completed three years ago, explained RMOW director of finance Carlee Price.
“Asset management planning is a multi-year undertaking,” she said. “The work that was completed in 2019 largely focused on building an inventory and starting to understand what the value of our built asset infrastructure was, so with this iteration, we’re building upon that knowledge and starting to think about the systems that support that inventory going forward, and ensure that we’re learning more and more about it as time goes on.”
That means everything from collating all the information on Whistler’s assets from various departments to engaging the municipality’s in-house experts.
The 2019 Asset Management Investment Plan pegged the total value of Whistler’s infrastructure at $810 million.
Though that’s still the number the municipality is working with as it embarks on this next phase of asset management planning, “with this current phase of implementation, we’ll create a system where that number will update regularly,” Price explained. “But we continue to use the 2019 numbers until the new system and the regular updates are in place.”
The RMOW is working with an external consultant tasked with leading this stage of planning, which is slated to wrap up later this spring.
“This work moves us towards proper timing on required replacements,” said Mayor Jack Crompton. “Well-managed and -maintained assets are a significant part of a healthy community and a responsible annual budgetary process. To avoid budget surprises in the future, we need to understand where our assets are and what is the replacement cost and plan for each of those assets—this work informs a strategic and thoughtful approach to managing them.”
Asset management “may not be sexy,” Crompton acknowledged, “but it’s important.”
