Canadian municipalities are responsible for building and maintaining the infrastructure that provides essential services to residents and businesses. To deliver services consistently and reliably, local governments must proactively manage their assets, as a reactive approach to repairing and replacing infrastructure can lead to higher overall costs and lapses in service delivery. A long-term financial plan can help your organization shift from reactive to proactive asset management.

Below you will find:

• Resources that describe the benefits of long-term financial planning for municipal asset management
• Tools to help you develop effective long-term financial strategies for funding infrastructure services
• Guidance on embedding levels of service, lifecycle costing, generational equity and climate resilience into long-term financial planning

Video: The benefits of long-term financial planning 

From minimizing asset lifecycle costs to managing the financial impacts of climate change, long-term financial planning can help you meet community needs today and in the future. This video explores these benefits and more alongside key examples.

Read the transcript.

Tools for developing a long-term financial plan for asset management

Are you ready to take the next step on your long-term financial planning journey? Use this suite of tools.

How levels of service and lifecycle costing inform long-term financial planning

In this guide, you’ll learn how levels of service and lifecycle costing inform long-term financial planning, and some ways that social equity and climate resilience goals can be embedded into this process. You’ll find tips, strategies, and examples that shed light on what contributes to an effective long-term financial plan for asset management.

Read the guide.

Guides, templates, tools and more to help you write your own long-term financial plan

The following tools were developed by Asset Management BC (AMBC) in collaboration with the Union of BC Municipalities and the BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

By identifying and establishing long-term financial goals, your community can lower ongoing asset maintenance costs while effectively funding community infrastructure and service delivery. However, drafting a plan without prior experience can be a challenging process. 

To help municipal practitioners get started with long-term financial planning, or to help more experienced staff sharpen their skills, AMBC has developed a guide, a customizable template, an Excel tool and a slide presentation. These resources were developed for a broad audience and can help you write a long-term financial plan, compile data and make calculations, summarize and present your plan, and more. 

Access the tools today. 

A neighbourhood in Markham, Ontario, will be the first net-zero community in Canada to connect all of its houses to a geothermal energy system, a major step toward achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. It’s just one of many innovative projects supported by GMF as we empower Canadian municipalities to take bold steps in addressing climate change, fostering resilience, and advancing sustainability.  

In 2023-24, GMF had our most impactful year yet, as we invested nearly $200 million in local projects and secured more than $820 million in new funding. We’re helping communities across Canada access funding, knowledge and capacity to face the diverse challenges of climate change and environmental sustainability by undertaking innovative, scalable projects that make a real difference. 

Explore GMF’s 2023-24 Annual Report

Trees are known for providing shade, absorbing carbon and enhancing biodiversity—but the power of trees doesn't end there. Living near and around trees can have vast social and health benefits, including reduced urban heat island effect, improved air quality and better mental health. Local governments who understand the value of trees can better plan and invest in these assets to ensure that they continue to provide services to their residents.

Learn from a panel of experts in forestry, human health, natural asset management and climate-resilient infrastructure as they speak to the myriad benefits rooted in vibrant urban forests and how communities can make the business case for planting and protecting trees.  

Speakers: 

• Roy Brooke, Executive Director, Natural Assets Initiative 
• Joanna Eyquem, Managing Director, Climate-Resilient Infrastructure, Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation 
• Barb Rabicki, Principal Owner, Wild by Nature Forest Sanctuary 
• Dr. Laurette Geldenhuys, Board Member, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and Professor, Dalhousie University 

This webinar is well suited for: 

• Municipal elected officials   
• Parks and recreation staff 
• Planners 
• Asset management staff 
• Climate change and sustainability staff 
• Urban forestry practitioners   
• Local organizations 
• Residents interested in local climate adaptation

Our expert panel and audience members shared additional resources to help you build the business case for tree planting in your community: 

• Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, Managing Flooding and Erosion at the Watershed Scale
• Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, Climate-ready Infographics  
• Natural Assets Initiative, Case study: Natural Asset Management in Selkirk, MB 
• Natural Assets Initiative, Natural Asset Management Roadmap Program 
• Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment 
• Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, Canadian Health Care Forests 
• City of Montreal, Public Trees of Montreal 
• 24heures, Article : Montréal: Faire des économies grâce à nos arbres 
• City of Mississauga, 2022 Financial and sustainability report   
• Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, Article: Natural Asset Analysis and Valuation Project redefines nature-based solutions 
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative, SFI Urban and Community Forestry Sustainability Standard 
• Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium and University of Toronto, HealthyPlan.City 
• Sustainable Brands, Article: How brands can help communities thrive in a changing climate 
• City of Calgary, Urban Forestry Map 

Watch the webinar

This webinar was created in partnership by Tree Canada and FCM’s Green Municipal Fund for the Growing Canada’s Community Canopies initiative, which is delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and funded by the Government of Canada. 

Our Community Buildings Retrofit (CBR) initiative supports local governments and not-for-profit organizations in small and rural communities with community buildings retrofits that aim to improve energy performance, lower operating and maintenance costs, and transition to cleaner energy solutions over time. These retrofits can also serve the community and its residents in other ways.

The short guides below explore the many other benefits of retrofitting community buildings, such as integrating equity considerations and ensuring infrastructure resiliency. More guides will be added in the coming months.

Health, equity and other non-energy benefits of community building retrofits

Beyond energy and cost savings, community building retrofits offer a significant opportunity to build municipalities that are healthier, more equitable and more resilient. This guide will help you build a case for community building retrofits by summarizing the common non-energy benefits, expanding on common indoor air pollutants, and providing useful definitions of relevant terms such as indoor environmental quality (IEQ). 
 
Read the guide.