Laurentian Hills will face steep costs over the next 10 to 20 years as it maintains and replaces its municipal infrastructure.
That was the message last Monday as Mike Bly of consultants PSD Citywide Inc presented council with the town’s final asset management plan.
The plan brings Laurentian Hills into compliance with provincial regulations requiring all municipalities to have fully costed asset management plans this year.
The plans are to be reviewed every five years going forward.
Overall, Bly found that the municipality has an estimated $81 million in assets, most of it wrapped up in the Chalk River water and sewer systems.
To maintain and renew those assets, Bly says the town needs to invest $2.9 million a year over the next 50 years, in today’s dollars.
Future costs would need to be adjusted for inflation.
To reach full funding would require tax increases of 1.9 per cent a year for 10 years, along with water and sewer rate increases of 6.5 and 6.7 per cent each year for the next 20 years, he said…
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