Saint John has $545M of infrastructure needing immediate attention: Report

Saint John has hundreds of millions of infrastructure, such as roads and water mains, that may need repairs or replacing, which reaffirms the "urgent" need for fiscal reform, says Mayor Donna Reardon.

With the new government of Susan Holt taking the reins, Reardon said she is optimistic movement on the issue is on the horizon. 

"I think that right away you're seeing the whole government is looking at and talking about and moving on some of the promises that they made to the public," she said, but the changes need to come fast for Saint John and other municipalities who are struggling to meet their costs.

According to a staff report presented at a recent city finance committee meeting, Saint John's infrastructure has a replacement value of $6.86 billion, with $545-million worth of infrastructure in need of "immediate attention."

The large portion of Saint John's infrastructure deficits — assets the city is using that have surpassed their lives — fall under the city's "general fund," which encompasses roads, sidewalks, storm sewers, parks and municipal buildings.

"Roads [are] the number one … People don't think of roads as an asset, but roads are an asset," Reardon said. 

"They need to be looked at annually … they need to be repaired, etcetera. So roads are a big cost. The city of Saint John is large … We have over 600 kilometres of roads."

Currently, 22 per cent of the assets that fall under the general fund are in poor or extremely poor condition, with 14 per cent being considered "high risk," according to the report. 

Not being able to keep up with infrastructure repairs and replacements impacts the city's growth and the community, Reason said.

"Your utilities, your water, sewerage — you don't want to let that go because that's a disaster."  

She pointed to what happened in Calgary earlier this year, after the city's largest water-feeder main ruptured.

"They were out of water and reduced water for weeks … infrastructure in Calgary is not nearly as old as Saint John. When those things happen, they're catastrophic for your community."

Water lines fall under the city's utility fund, which also includes waste water sewers, and water and wastewater facilities, which have a deficit of $368 million. Eleven per cent of these are in poor condition, with nine per cent posing high risk. 

Saint John's infrastructure deficit value is currently higher than both Moncton's and Fredericton's.