Asset Management Levels of Service Plan

Don't take our assets for granted

Many of the projects we work on at the City of Guelph don't sound very exciting and often some of the ones that sound the least inspiring impact the lives of the people living, working and playing in Guelph the most. Asset Levels of Service planning is about ensuring the service you receive from City assets meets your needs and that they are planned for in the most efficient and fiscally responsible way we can. It is how we plan for and prioritize our infrastructure needs to get the greatest benefit for our community and you.

A lot of the assets we are talking about are the parts of our infrastructure that many of us take for granted. The pipes from our wells and water treatment facilities provide the service of fresh, drinkable water to your home. Other pipes take the used water we don't want any more away. Our road network provides a service that helps you get where you need to go inside of the city and to places outside of the city too. Our Asset Management Team and many other staff at the City of Guelph work hard on asset management planning so you don't have to think about it.

This team has been hard at work developing a multi-year Asset Management Levels of Service plan. Part of this planning is to ensure the community is comfortable with the way we plan for future levels of service related to the assets the City owns and manages. We hope you will take the time to learn a bit about asset management and levels of service planning at the City of Guelph and provide feedback.

City asset examples courtesy of City of London

Asset planning is also budget planning

Why else is asset management planning important? We own and manage approximately $7.7 billion in assets and our asset planning is a significant part of the City Multi-year budget. Asset management helps us make cost-effective decisions to meet expected levels of service while also considering risks. Having an asset management program helps budget responsibly and puts Guelph in a good position for future grant opportunities and changes to legislation.

Levels of service planning happens in two phases and the province requires that we meet regulations for asset management planning. We submit reports to the province to meet these requirements. On July 1, 2024, we submitted a report establishing our existing levels of service. On July 1, 2025, we will be submitting a report to plan for future levels of service.

How to participate

The survey below will be open from January 31 to February 21, 2025. This survey will:

1. Educate you about asset management and asset levels of service and how we plan for it.
2. Find out how familiar you already are with asset management and levels of service planning.
3. Understand how you already participate in asset management planning.
4. Get feedback about our methods and processes for our Asset Levels of Service plan.

Please take the time to do a bit of reading and answer questions in the survey. We will use the survey to report to the province and to consider our future planning processes. If you have any questions about this project or the survey, please use the question tool below to have your question answered publicly, so everyone can know the answer. Or reach out to a team member listed on the right-hand side of the page.