{"id":57,"date":"2026-06-02T20:20:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T20:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/?p=57"},"modified":"2026-07-22T22:14:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T22:14:54","slug":"linear-assets-and-pipes-for-poops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/?p=57","title":{"rendered":"The Infrastructure Deficit"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Conversation about core infrastructure<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n
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Our aging infrastructure problems aren\u2019t abstract: we witnessed it this past year with inflow and infiltration into our sewer system nearly causing a catastrophic failure. We have seen it with the shuttering of the Community Center. The pool and arena are reaching end of life, where the maintenance costs to extend their lifespan will exceed the return of those extensions. These assets were built during times of expansion, and are all now reaching end of life nearly simultaneously. We need to address issues of sewer pipes, water sources, and municipal facilities. In my time on Council, talking to elected officials across BC, and Canada, this is not a unique situation to Fernie. This is playing out from coast, to coast, to coast.

All the way back in 2007, The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) wrote a paper titled \u201cDanger Ahead: The Coming Collapse of Canada\u2019s Municipal Infrastructure.\u201d<\/u><\/a> The report estimates that the municipal infrastructure deficit in Canada sat at $123 billion dollars. In the 2018 Asset Management Investment Plan<\/u><\/a>, the City of Fernie\u2019s funding gap had an estimate range of $19,897,000-$67,481,000. Keep in mind, these are 2007 and 2018 dollar values; inflation since these figures were published has been rampant. The funding gap is the difference between what the current replacement costs of our infrastructure assets are, and what the current tax revenue, and reserves, can support. Since 2018, the City has been working diligently to better define conditions assessments across all of our asset classes. This work is meant to help us refine and narrow the broad range of the current funding gap. A big component of this research and study has been to develop asset condition reports. By way of example, in the 2025 Integrated Infrastructure Conditions Report, 43% of the City\u2019s roads were listed in either Poor, or Very Poor condition. The City is currently working through a Facilities Assessment Report which will help us better understand the current state of municipal facilities. With these reports in hand, we can prioritize where the most urgent investment is needed, and repair or replace this infrastructure before a catastrophic failure.

As was outlined in the most recent City of Fernie budget cycle, \u201cIts taken us 100+ years to end up in our current situation, we will need to plan for the next 100 years to get out of it.\u201d Solving this problem is going to require consistent, steady progress from successive Councils. That is to say, this problem didn\u2019t just happen overnight. It's the culmination of many successive decisions. Deferring maintenance and reserve contributions. Low-density development and boundary expansions. Pressures from being a resort community. All of these have impacted the financial outlook for the community, and require a strong vision and political will to rectify.
Deferring maintenance and reserves may have delivered an immediate saving to the taxpayer, but it compounded the costs of the eventual repair. The National Asset Management Strategy for Canadian Infrastructure (NAMS Canada)<\/u><\/a> has published guidance showing that every dollar of deferred maintenance typically becomes $4-$5 dollars in future replacement costs. 
Expanding the footprint of the community, adding more linear assets that service low-density neighbourhoods has meant that the property taxes charged have not been sufficient enough for reserve contributions for repair and replacement.
On top of that, we have the additional load and pressure of being a resort community, with no means for this additional load to support the \u2018wear and tear\u2019 it places on our systems. The shared vision of Resort Municipalities across the Province has helped deliver the Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI<\/u><\/a>), however, this funding is strictly for new capital and infrastructure, not the maintenance of existing assets.
Building on the work of developing conditions assessments for all City-owned infrastructure assets, the picture is becoming more and more clear about the chasm that is our funding gap. This work is necessary not just for our own community knowledge, but these reports form a fundamental component of most infrastructure grant applications now. To bridge the funding gap, we are going to need to rely on: Federal and Provinicial grants, updated Development Cost Charges (DCCs), and shift in our development strategies towards higher net value per acre.

Addressing this deficit will require consistent action across multiple terms. Here is what the next Council needs to commit to. We need to publish an Asset Management Plan with conditions ratings and a 20 year capital forecast, so that we all understand where we are currently, and what we need to do get out of this hole. We need to push forward with a DCC review, to ensure that future growth is paying its full lifecycle costs. We need to commit to continuing the work of building a capital reserve funding strategy that ensures that as assets are \u201cconsumed\u201d, that the users of these assets are paying the appropriate amount for their future replacement. And lastly, we need to continue the work of building relationships with colleagues at the federal, provincial, and regional levels to advocate for stable, long-term funding, not one-time grants. This also includes working with regional colleagues to explore shared services models and foster greater regional collaboration and cooperation to identify potential for shared services with a regional footprint.
The alternative to this action is not the status quo: it's an accelerating deterioration and compounding liability for the future. Without action, we risk continued facility closures, pipe failures, and worsening road conditions. This is not hypothetical; it is the predictable endpoint of underfunded asset management. After a generation of deferring this work, it is time to pay the piper, and show our children what leadership means.



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Conversation about core infrastructure Our aging infrastructure problems aren\u2019t abstract: we witnessed it this past year with inflow and infiltration into our sewer system nearly causing a catastrophic failure. We have seen it with the shuttering of the Community Center. The pool and arena are reaching end of life, where the maintenance costs to extend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193,"href":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electkylehamilton.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}