The City purchases, restores, builds and repairs assets and infrastructure (e.g. buildings, wetlands, trees, parks, water pipes, fire hydrants, roads) to provide community services. Best practices designed to achieve the most benefit from these assets at the lowest risk and cost to the public is a goal of asset management. Asset management is a professional discipline, like accounting or engineering, that many city employees work at every day. The City measures the general condition of assets on a regular basis to help us make budget decisions and best plan investments.

Balancing costs, risks, and the level of service expected by the community (e.g. roads or water pipes in good condition) keeps costs to the public lower while still providing city services. Asset condition ratings help us measure the general status of all assets across all departments in the city. City departments prioritize their work and spending to ensure the most important assets are repaired or replaced at the right time.

Allowing assets like fire hydrants to continue to operate while still in fair condition allows the city to prioritize spending on assets that need replacement sooner like an aging fire truck. 93% of all city assets reside in drinking water delivery, wastewater treatment and transportation. The transportation portfolio of assets has the most assets in poor or very poor condition and has the greatest need of funding for repair and replacement.

The annual Citywide Asset Report explains the ways each bureau measures the condition of the assets they manage according to their specific legal and business requirements. Each bureau tailors a specific methodology to their industry and operation while following general definitions for condition rating.

These ratings require understanding the risk and services expected to be delivered to the community for each asset. The condition measurement for a fire truck is different from a water pipe or a road or a park. The condition rating is the most common and easily achievable rating all departments can collect for a city-wide view of all assets to explain a complex system.

The best resource to find more information about the condition of all city assets is the annual Citywide Asset Report. These reports also describe the coordinated efforts across all departments to improve how we manage our assets to achieve the most benefit for the lowest total cost.