Setting a plan to manage assets

A plan to manage Baw Baw Shire's $842 million worth of assets has been adopted by council.

Part of the plan will be developing a strategy to address a $16 million backlog in asset renewal works.

More than half of council's asset portfolio is made up of roads, carparks and kerb and channel valued at almost $470 million.

The plan is designed to manage maintenance and replacement programs for council assets including 197 council buildings, 471 playgrounds, 207 bridge structures, 50,000 square metres of sports fields and 3500 open space assets at 187 sites.

The plan is complemented by a infrastructure asset management strategy to enable council to improve long term management of its infrastructure assets

A report to council said it was council's responsibility to manage its community assets for their full life cycle including initial planning and design, operation, maintenance, renewal and disposal.

Managing the assets is based on the financial costs involved with maintenance, renewal, upgrading or acquiring assets.

The purpose of the asset plan is to document how council will manage its assets to meet community needs over the next 10 years; summarise operating and capital expenditure requirements for the assets; and ensure there is integration between the community's vision, council plan and financial commitments.

Over the next 10 years council has allocated $428 million to fund council's asset portfolio, including maintenance, renewal, upgrades and extensions.

Council's data and renewal modelling indicates $444 million will be required to maintain current service levels over the next 10 years.

"This results in a $16 million backlog in asset renewal. Council is currently developing and implementing strategies to address the backlog into the future," the report said.

Officers said council was expected to inherit $264 million worth of assets through upgrades, extensions and development contributions over the next 10 years, taking the total value of council assets to $1.1 billion.

The draft asset plan identifies how much money council will invest in assets over the next 10 years.

The value of assets is based on their replacement costs.

Renewal modelling in the draft plan provides information on assets that will require replacement over the next 10 years and how much it will costs.

"As these assets support services, the community will be impacted, particularly the assets that are being underfunded.

"The under funding of asset renewals and maintenance will lead to asst degrading at a faster rate and shifting the financial burden from preventative maintenance to renewals," the report said.

Officers said recent community feedback on the plan indicated respondents were primarily interested in the open space asset profile with a strong emphasis on preserving and protecting the natural environment.

Cr Darren Wallace said council had a wide range of assets to support its many services.

He said the plan indicated council was replacing assets every 26 years and having a management plan would help to address the current backlog.

He said correct management of the assets would ensure council was achieving the "biggest bang for its buck."

"It's a critical tool to maximise asset life cycles to deliver the best outcome for our community," he said.

Cr Joe Gauci said the asset register would be simple to manage if it remained stagnant.

"But that's not the case for us because every year we are inheriting new assets on the list.

We think we are putting away enough money and then we have a whole lot more on top of that again," he said.

Cr Gauci said council had come a long way in its asset management over the past eight years.

"Everything needs a plan and the data collected in this plan is very important.

We will keep moving forward and keep our assets at a standard our ratepayers expect," he said.

Cr Tricia Jones said the ultimate goal of the plan was to ensure council's assets remained in good order.

"We have ageing infrastructure that needs to keep up with a growing population, all within a rate capped environment.

"The asset plan clarifies how much will be invested over the next 10 years," she said.