Asset management plan tied to funding eligibility and capital budgeting
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On Monday afternoon, Tantramar council met for its council of the whole meeting – where decisions aren’t made, but discussed – after a one-week delay due to weather. Agenda items included new council technology, improvements to the Bill Johnstone splash pad, upgrades to the civic centre, Shiretown 2026, and more.
First up, a discussion and debate ensued after staff recommended hiring a consultant to prepare the municipality’s first unified asset management plan.
Tantramar’s director of financial services Michael Beal introduced the item, explaining that municipalities are required to maintain updated asset management plans in order to access certain infrastructure funding programs.
“Asset management plans, of course, are required in order to obtain some provincial and federal funding, including the CCBF (formerly gas tax fund), as well as good planning practice, to have a recent up-to-date asset management plan as far as your long-term capital planning goes.”
Beal noted that before amalgamation, both Sackville and Dorchester completed their own plans in 2018.
“Prior history before amalgamation, in 2018, Sackville’s asset management plan was done as well as Dorchester’s. Originally back in 2018, when asset management plans were required, there was a lot of funding for those at that time; so they were done in most municipalities in New Brunswick.”
Cost and recommendation
Staff are recommending hiring PSD Citywide to complete a new plan for Tantramar. The quoted cost is $43,200 plus HST. Beal says it’s still less than what most municipalities paid in 2018 – $60,000 – due to grants available at the time.
“It’s about $7,200 more than what Sackville would’ve paid in 2018, so it is our recommendation that we hire PSD Citywide to create Tantramar’s first asset management plan.”
Debate over quotes and procurement
Councillor Barry Hicks questioned why only one quote was obtained.
“I’m wondering why we didn’t get three quotes on this. I know we had them do it last time, but we don’t know what the prices are coming in at from other companies (if) we don’t get extra quotes,”
Beal responded that a tender or RFP was not required, and that the firm already manages the town’s asset data.
“We can go out to other quotes. It’s unlikely that the quotes would be any cheaper, given that Crandall had done it for $60,000 for just Dorchester’s assets at that point in time. But they have all our data, our data is in the cloud with them already. And that’s why we chose them, which does make it cheaper because out of all the assets that we have within the software, Sackville represents 80 to 90 percent of the assets that is in play.”
Councillor Bruce Phinney also asked whether the final cost could exceed the quoted amount.
“So what do you think it would possibly be in reality?”
Beal said the quoted amount reflects the cost of preparing the plan.
“That would be the cost, $43,200 in order to do our asset management plan.”
Coucillor Matt Estabrooks suggested timelines be set to determine when staff should not re-use a company without obtaining additional quotes.
Why asset management matters
During a Q&A period, following questions from reporter Bruce Wark, Beal explained that previous asset management analysis revealed the municipality was under-investing in infrastructure renewal.
“In order to properly renew all of our assets, we were only spending 36 percent of the funding that we needed to spend. So the financial component of an asset management plan says, in order to hit targets and eventually renew your plan, you need to increase your capital funding by ‘X’ percentage each year – for roads, for buildings, for water, for sewer, for sidewalks as such.”
Council voted to move the recommendation forward for consideration at a regular council meeting, acknowledging that obtaining additional quotes would possibly delay the project from its projected fall completion date.
If approved, the new plan will help guide Tantramar’s long-term capital budgeting for infrastructure across the municipality.
Questions, comments or concerns? Email news@chmafm.com.
Clinton Davis is a community journalist and audio producer covering the people, events, and ideas shaping the Tantramar region.
