Keep reading to learn more about important updates to provincial asset management data collection requirements for local government in British Columbia in 2025.
2025 marks a year of change for the Local Government Data Entry and aligns with the renewed Canada Community Building Fund.
The Local Government Data Entry (LGDE) forms, an annual requirement, provide a standardized record of local government financial activities over the past fiscal year and form the basis for the Province’s Local Government Statistics tables.
In 2020, the Province added a new category to the LGDE forms (C2 – Tangible Capital Assets & Asset Management) to commence the collection of Asset Management (AM) data for local governments. The sections within C2 require all local governments to report on Historical Cost, Asset Management Plans and Risk Register Status, and Asset Additions with optional reporting for Asset Age and Replacement Value, and Asset Condition. The LGDE collects AM data in the form of totals by asset class, which are the outputs from local governments’ AM tracking and planning systems.
More information about what AM data fields were added in 2020 can be found here.
What is changing in regards to Local Government Data Entry forms this year?
Beginning in 2025, reporting on the 2024 fiscal year end, the previously optional sections on Asset Age and Replacement Value, and Asset Condition will become required AM reporting. These fields include:
Asset Age and Replacement Value
- Current replacement value
- Annual replacement value amortization
- Average expected life
- Average age
- Average remaining useful life (calculated)
Asset condition
- Physical condition (% breakdown by value)
- Capacity vs. demand utilization (% breakdown by value)
- Functionality (% breakdown by value)
What is new about asset management data collection in 2025?
New mandatory fields are being added to report on where each local government currently stands in their AM process. These fields include:
Organization Asset Management
- Asset management strategy in place? (Y/N)
- Asset management policy in place? (Y/N)
- Risk assessment completed? (Y/N)
- Long-Term Financial Plan (LTFP) linked to AM plan(s)? (Y/N)
- Current LTFP horizon (years)?
- LTFP available online? (Y/N)
- Asset inventory completed? (Y/N)
- Natural assets inventory completed? (Y/N)
Asset Management Progress by Asset Class
- Asset Inventory (Y/N)
- Long-Term Financial Plan (Y/N).
Why are asset management reporting requirements being expanded?
Changing asset management fields from optional to mandatory is a staged progression to improve data quality and to start consistently gathering AM data. The newly collected asset management data will help encourage better long term financial and asset management plans and measure the progress of sustainable service delivery.
Asset Management is a core commitment in the Canada Community Building Fund (CCBF). The CCBF is a tripartite Agreement between Canada, British Columbia, and the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), administered by UBCM, which provides predictable, long-term and stable funding to local governments for investment in infrastructure and capacity-building projects over 10 years.
The renewed agreement (2024 – 2034) continues to support strengthening the capacity to develop and implement asset management best practices as integral to delivering community services in a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable manner and recognizes that the measures contained in the prior agreement (2014-2024) were effective in increasing the capacity of local governments to enhance their community’s sustainability.
In the new agreement there are four key Asset Management Commitments:
- Reporting on continuous improvement of Asset Management practices over the duration of the Agreement, including reporting through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs Local Government Data Entry (LGDE) System,
- Development and implementation of Long-term Financial Plans
- Ongoing Asset Management education and training, and
- Implementing asset management performance measurement
The AM data collected through the LGDE provides a unified collection of data to help satisfy AM reporting requirements noted in CCBF, reducing additional reporting needs, such as the past surveys, for local governments.
How will this data be used?
The expanded AM data will provide the Province with a more accurate measure of the state of local government infrastructure, the progress of asset management, and monitor the overall financial health of the local government system.
More specifically, the Province will use the data to:
- Calculate and monitor key sustainability ratios;
- Identify trends, gaps, needs, and concerns;
- Produce an annual “Statement of Tangible Capital Assets” report for each local government; and
- Inform future infrastructure grant programs and support resources
- Share data with UBCM to meet CCBF reporting requirements.
The annual submission deadline for LGDE forms for all local governments is May 15th of each year.
Resources and support
Updated versions of the LGDE help manuals will be posted in March when the revised LGDE forms are released for 2024 fiscal year data input. The LGDE help manuals include additional definitions and guidance to cover the new AM sections.
Please share your questions and suggestions with the Local Government Infrastructure and Finance Branch through email at [email protected].
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Article by BC Ministry Staff
Local Government Infrastructure and Finance Branch
