Calgarians now have a dollar value of what it will take to not only get the city’s infrastructure up to snuff but also continue to maintain and grow it in the future.

During the audit committee meeting on Jan. 22, councillors reviewed the corporate risk report, which showed that capital infrastructure risk was elevated to almost certain, extensive and carrying severe impact.

While there were other risks covered in the report, predictably the capital infrastructure stream dominated the conversation.

City officials reviewed how the corporate risk management has changed over the past four years, but acknowledged that there was a stark difference in how urgently they viewed risk management after the Dec. 30 Bearspaw South feeder main break.

“I can tell you we are happy to be talking about asset management, risk management. We will sit here and talk all day long with you on this. This is what we want to be doing. We’re very focused on the investment side that council is making where we need to go,” said Infrastructure Services GM Michael Thompson.

“For a city of our size, with our asset base and the growth we have, we need to be spending around $5 billion a year going forward. When we talk about our capital budget, that’s for vehicles, that’s for maintenance of our existing infrastructure and for new growth to deliver on the service commitments that we have made to Calgarians.”

Thompson said that Calgary currently has about $120 billion in infrastructure across the city. The big ticket infrastructure items include water, roads and bridges, transit and recreation.

Councillors shared a desire to see more granular information on what specific projects need to be introduced, upgraded or replaced.

Officials said that a capital needs infrastructure assessment will come to a March Infrastructure and Planning Committee meeting, and a 10-year rolling capital plan is in the works, based on a prior council approval.

That’s part of a series of documents being prepared for councillors to inform budget decisions on infrastructure moving forward.

“So, we will lay out the picture, and then the task in front of all of us is to prioritize and to find the funding to deliver on those needs that we’ve identified,” Thompson said.

“And if we can’t do that, then to be very clear with you about changing service levels or accepting more risk. So, we need to be very transparent with you about that as we go forward.”

Escalation in infrastructure funding

Thompson said that city infrastructure funding has already been growing. They’ve also been getting better at deploying it.

“A few years ago, (our) total capital budget was $1.1 billion. Council approved in the fall of 25 a $3.8 billion capital budget – more than three times what we were previously spending,” he said.

“We are already delivering a lot. Calgarians will see that and feel that with construction across the city, but we know we need to do more.”

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said that council needed to be direct with citizens about what it’s going to take to improve city infrastructure.

“It’s not just in water; it’s also in rec facilities. It’s in major transportation and transit projects. All across the city, there’s a significant infrastructure deficit, and those are costs that we will pay one way or another,” he said.

“We can choose to pay modestly now or to pay massively down the road, and this is a council that refuses to keep kicking the can.”

When asked how councillors, many of whom campaigned on lower taxes and trimmed budgets, but also better infrastructure, could make those two ends meet, Mayor Farkas said the problem is here and now and has to be dealt with.

“It’s not going to be cheaper next year. It’s not going to be cheaper 10 years from now. So that is why we have to deal with it here and now, and the financially responsible thing to do is to deal with the immediate needs,” he said.

“There’s safety impacts, there’s quality of life impacts, economic development impacts.”

Ward 6 Coun. John Pantazopoulos said that he campaigned on smart spending. He thinks that dealing with major infrastructure issues is smart spending.

“I think Calgarians who we’ve heard, they’re accepting it. They understand it,” he said.

“These are not nice to haves. These are must haves.”

Pantazopoulos did express concern that though more money is being poured into infrastructure, and risk-related issues were being brought to the fore, that the projected corporate risk register wasn’t expected to change over the next three years.

“I think you heard from administration, they were going to fill in the blanks, if you will, talk about timelines, talk about ownership and accountability, and I think that’s important,” he said.  

“So, we start from there, then we have a clear timeline and actions that Calgarians, and also council, can hold administration and the City of Calgary to account.”