Inflation pinches Fredericton as city falls behind on fixing potholes and old pipes
CBC
Drivers in Fredericton can blame inflation — at least in part — every time they encounter a pothole.
The soaring cost of goods and services brought on by inflation means the City of Fredericton needs to spend more money replacing its aging infrastructure, including roads, water pipes and buses.
City treasurer Alicia Keating says inflation has meant infrastructure is not being replaced when it should, and the city is falling behind on its obligation to replace assets before they break.
"A lot of the inflationary impacts are No. 1, it costs more, but No. 2, we actually can't even invest in our infrastructure because we can't buy things," Keating said after Monday night's council meeting.
"So supply chain issues are actually reducing the availability of replacing assets. So we're continuing to use them for longer than we had intended because we have no construction firms to build or we simply can't access them."
Keating presented the city's audited financial statement for 2022 to councillors on Monday night.
She said the city received a "clean audit opinion," and is running a $1.2-million cash surplus which will be used in the 2024 budget.
But the expense of replacing all outdated infrastructure — also known as its infrastructure deficit — has climbed to $321.4 million.
Water and sewer lines and treatment facilities account for $188.1 million of that deficit, while roads and streets account for $69.3 million, building and municipal facilities $46.7 million, machinery and vehicles $12.2 million and $5.2 million, respectively.
"It could impact a service delivery," Keating said. "So if a bus breaks down, it can't go pick up people. If a snowplow breaks down, it can't plow snow."
Keating said to stay on top of its obligation to replace old infrastructure, the city should have invested $50.5 million last year, but only spent $24.4 million, giving the city a "sustainability ratio" of 0.48.
Keating said the city aims to maintain a ratio of at least 1, but it hasn't achieved that since 2018.
"As the city treasurer, it is concerning. However, given the fact that you research into why something changes so drastically, we know that inflation is a huge factor in everyone's day-to-day life and we're not immune to that at all," she said.
"So as we go forward, if we continue to see that trend [in the ratio] going down, I'll be very worried."
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