One of the most important responsibilities

One of the most important responsibilities By John Meloche Municipal Candidate for Ward 2 in in Pickering One of the most important responsibilities of municipal government is also one of the least glamorous: taking care of the infrastructure taxpayers have already paid for. Roads, sidewalks, culverts, storm sewers, catch basins, bridges and public facilities all have a lifecycle. We can maintain them while they are still in reasonable condition, rehabilitate them before they fail, or wait until deterioration becomes so serious that full replacement is required. Those choices do not cost taxpayers the same amount of money. Pickering's own 2025 Asset Management Plan makes the challenge clear. It reports that 51 per cent of the City's road-corridor assets, measured by replacement value, are rated poor or very poor. Collector roads have an average Pavement Condition Index of 54, while local roads average 48 — both classified as "Needs Improvement." Approximately 60 per cent of local roads are rated poor or worse. The financial consequences matter just as much as the condition ratings. The City's modelling estimates that proactively maintaining and rehabilitating roads could potentially avoid approximately $5.6 million annually compared with allowing those roads to deteriorate until replacement becomes necessary. That is an important lesson in fiscal responsibility. Maintenance is not simply an expense. It is a cost we either manage today or risk paying much more for tomorrow. Sometimes refusing to spend a dollar at the right time creates a much larger bill later. To be fair, Pickering is investing significant money in infrastructure renewal. The City's approved 2026 Capital Budget totals approximately $73.2 million, with nearly $48.7 million classified as infrastructure renewal. That includes $5.25 million for road rehabilitation, along with major investments in culverts, stormwater systems, erosion protection, municipal buildings and other aging infrastructure. So the argument should not be that Pickering has no infrastructure plan. It does. The more important question is whether the pace of investment matches the condition of the assets. Stormwater infrastructure is another example. Residents rarely think about catch basins, storm sewers, culverts, channels and stormwater ponds until something stops working. Yet failures can contribute to standing water, flooding, erosion, property damage and expensive emergency repairs. Pickering is funding stormwater projects, including pond cleanouts, culvert replacement and restoration work. At the same time, the City's Asset Management Plan acknowledges that budget limitations have contributed to deferred maintenance and delayed stormwater upgrades. That tension deserves serious attention. The Asset Management Plan estimates that Pickering requires approximately $61.7 million annually for sustainable capital renewal while sustainable funding going forward is estimated at roughly $28.8 million — leaving an annual infrastructure funding gap of approximately $32.8 million. We cannot simply pretend that gap does not exist. Pushing necessary work into the future is not fiscal conservatism. It can simply mean passing a larger invoice to the next taxpayer. My approach is straightforward: maintenance first. Council should use real condition data, prioritize infrastructure according to risk, extend the useful life of assets taxpayers already own, aggressively pursue available outside funding and ensure that growth pays its appropriate share of growth-related infrastructure. Residents should also be able to clearly see what is being repaired, why it is a priority, and what delaying that work could ultimately cost. Pickering is going to keep growing, and growth will require new infrastructure. But growth cannot come at the expense of properly maintaining what generations of taxpayers have already built. Responsible government is not always about announcing the next big project. Sometimes it is about having the discipline to protect what we already own.