Things not that bad after all

Photo: Mike Biden

Alarm bells raised about the City of Penticton’s infrastructure in 2016 have turned into a somewhat good news story for city hall.

Council heard an update Tuesday on the condition of the city’s assets from Urban Systems consultant Cory Sivell, who updated a 2016 preliminary study that pegged Penticton’s infrastructure deficit — the total value of assets beyond their lifespan — as high as $175M.

Sivell said further study has determined that figure to be $117M, or about nine per cent of the city’s total $1.25B portfolio.

“I think there is a lot of misconception here about a deficit being a band thing,” he said. “I think a deficit is a healthy thing, it means assets are lasting longer than we’ve predicted.”

Compared to other B.C. municipalities, Penticton’s nine per cent is below the typical range of 10 to 40 per cent.

Sivell applauded the city for getting ahead of the issue, but said it needs to increase its infrastructure replacement spending to keep the deficit in a healthy range.

Without factoring in new spending for things like a new arena, Penticton needs to be spending about $22.6M per year on infrastructure maintenance.

In the 2018 budget about $15M was earmarked, a number that grew by about $4M from the previous year.

“The overall picture… I’d say you are in a good position relative to other communities,” Sivell said.