George Mathewson The Journal has been warning of Sarnia’s growing infrastructure deficit almost since the newspaper’s inception, as regular readers know.
George Mathewson
The Journal has been warning of Sarnia’s growing infrastructure deficit almost since the newspaper’s inception, as regular readers know.
But new figures released by City Hall last week reveal that political indifference to our city’s basic needs is even worse than imagined.
Sarnia owns about $2 billion worth of linear assets, otherwise known as roads, bridges, sewers and seawalls, according to the engineering department.
The accepted formula for municipalities is to spend 2% to 4% a year on capital upkeep to ensure that things continue to run smoothly.
It’s not unlike a house. Don’t fix that leaky roof, ignore that dripping pipe, and things fall apart.
According to the formula, Sarnia should be spending a minimum of $40 million a year to protect its assets.
And how much is budgeted for this year? About $22 million, and believe it or not that’s an increase.
You needn’t be a mathematician to see the problem here. This council, and previous councils before it, has simply failed to spend what’s needed on basic infrastructure, kicking the can down the road and hoping someone else will deal with it in the future.
Well the future is here, and the consequence of their inaction is more evident with each passing month.
One-fourth of Sarnia’s streets are broken and crumbling and should be ripped up and repaired immediately, yet there is no plan in place to address the problem.
The only streets that ever seem to get paved inside city limits – think Indian Road; think London Road – belong to Lambton County.
Our aged and underground watermains leak so badly that the water loss is measurable at the treatment plant.
Shoreline protection has been allowed to lapse so long we’re now one major storm away from losing waterfront land and roadway to Lake Huron.
New commercial and residential development in Bright’s Grove has been stalled for years because the sewage system is maxed out.
Thankfully, we don’t have many bridges. But the Donohue has been under reconstruction this entire decade and the sad, beautiful Cull Drain Bridge, or what’s left of it, is sitting on blocks.
How far have things been allowed to slide? According to the engineers, replacing everything that needs replacing immediately would cost $235 million, which is about $3,200 for every man, woman and child in Sarnia.
Obviously, this mess wasn’t created in a day and it will take time to right the ship.
But these numbers should be a wake-up call for this council to separate spending ‘wants’ from ‘needs’ and begin repairing our city’s neglected infrastructure before it’s too late.
