Capital Budget and Asset Management Plan. In order to achieve this requirement, Management is bringing forth this report and the accompanying guidelines in order to assist us in identifying where possible potential mitigation options relative to the Capital Budget balanced with the need for the continuance of appropriate capital projects and investments in this new climate of uncertainty.
The guidelines in these documents do not replace or amend any of the interim measures associated with the pandemic, delegations of authority or any other by-law, policies and/or such approvals already in place which may not be consistent with the forward-facing guidelines identified below.
There are four (4) main capital budget categories that need to be considered and for which this report provides suggested guidelines for City Council to consider. They include the following:
- 1. Precommitted capital funding;
- 2. Capital project holds / cancellations and or deferrals;
- 3. Leveraging grant funding and;
- 4. Capital project surpluses and deficits
Each recommendation provides some additional information as to the rationale for the proposed guideline as detailed below.
Precommitted Capital Funding
The ability to precommit future funding (within 5 years) for immediate use has proven beneficial to achieve the timely construction and lower costs associated with capital projects. The City has been able to self-fund several large projects, leverage current pricing for projects, particularly multi-year projects, eliminate the need to issue debt, leverage several grant funding opportunities and address immediate asset failure needs through the ability to precommit future funding for immediate use.
It is highly likely there will be situations during the remainder of 2020 where precommitting additional capital funding from the 2021 to 2025 timeframe may be prudent. The listing below is Administration’s recommended guidelines, and rationale, on the conditions which would need to apply in order to bring this type of request to City Council for consideration and approval.
Pre-committing Future Capital Funding for immediate use proposed guidelines
1. Funding is for City’s matching portion of a grant;
The ability to precommit City funding for grant matching allows the grant application to confirm that should the City be awarded a grant we are able to proceed with the project. This enhances our application and in some cases is a mandatory requirement for the grant application. Leveraging grant funding has allowed the City to accomplish more capital projects in a shorter timeframe than originally planned and budgeted. The ability to continue to pursue grant applications may also assist with freeing up City funding to