Capital and related projects budget

Background

The capital and related project budget was approved on Dec. 15, 2022 by the Board of Trustees after inputgathering from the Brock community. The process to develop this capital and related project budget began in the summer of 2022, when Facilities Management and Information Technology Services first published proposed projects and sought input. Further discussions were held at committee levels, including the Senate Information Technology and Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Planning, Priorities and Budget Advisory Committee. The capital plan was developed in support of the Institutional Strategic Plan for the University. Approving the capital and related projects budget in late November or early December allows Facilities Management and Information Technology Services time to start planning the projects so, where possible, they can be accomplished in the spring and summer when the campus is less busy, as well as to ensure there is sufficient time to obtain competitive pricing.

Information and updates on the 2022-23 capital and related projects can be found in the 2022-23 trimester reporting at brocku.ca/about/university-financials. A key feature of this capital and related project planning is that any unspent funds of the 2022-23 capital and related projects budget will be reserved at April 30, 2023 and be moved into fiscal 2023-24 so the projects can be completed.

Capital and related projects overview

The 2023-24 capital and related projects budget (capital plan) is $12.97 million (Information Technology Services Projects – $4.77 million; Facilities Management Projects – $8.20 million). The specific projects are detailed in Figures 109 and 110.

As shown in Figure 107, the funding of the capital plan is made up as follows: $9.12 million is funded by the operating budget – both ancillary ($4.04 million) and non-ancillary contributions ($5.08 million), and $3.85 million is funded from Facilities Renewal.

It is important to note that the 2022-23 Fiscal Framework set out targeted capital plan funding of $14.8 million for 2023-24. Due to the current financial environment and the continued mitigation strategies, $1.86 million of funding for the capital plan was held back related to projects that were determined to be lower priority.

Non-ancillary contribution –$5.079 million

Ancillary contribution –$4.042 million

Facilities Renewal Program –$3.853 million

The 2023-24 capital and related projects budget identifies key areas of investment, including the District Energy Water Supply replacement ($0.56 million), residence and dining services projects ($3.89 million), core subscription and strategic student solutions ($2.05 million), classroom modernization ($0.45 million), Learning Management System ($0.37 million) and parking lot repairs and maintenance ($0.41 million). The capital plan includes $9.22 million in deferred maintenance spending, which exceeds the fiscal framework target of $6.0 million, and $0.26 million reserved for residence renewal as approved in the student experience infrastructure projects.

The primary driver informing much of the Facilities Management campus planning regarding deferred maintenance has been the condition assessment performed by VFA Inc. VFA, through the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), maintains a common reporting tool to track facilities conditions across Ontario universities for deferred maintenance reporting. In 2019-2020, Ontario universities conducted a data harmonization to ensure the data is now calculated in a consistent manner with other broader public sector organizations.

The condition assessment report (May 2022) by VFA Inc. determined the University has $315 million in deferred maintenance requirements (including residences) that have accumulated over a number of years. Although this level of maintenance is not obviously apparent when walking the halls of the University, the reality is that much of the deferred maintenance is related to roofs, HVAC, electrical, plumbing and accessibility. An important observation is that this deferred maintenance figure does not include information technology. The specific classifications of areas of deferred maintenance are included in Figure 108.

The Facility Condition Index (FCI) metric provides a methodology to determine the relative condition of a single building, group of buildings or total facilities and is calculated by dividing the deferred maintenance backlog by the current replacement value. The lower the FCI, the better the condition. Brock’s backlog of deferred maintenance items, as described below, results in the FCI for Brock of 0.22, which translates to “Poor” (an FCI>0.15).

Looking back over the past years, the turning point of the capital program really occurred when the Board of Trustees endorsed a motion to invest $6 million in deferred maintenance in the 2014-15 budget. The intent of the $6-million contribution was to at least maintain deferred maintenance and FCI at its current level. It should be noted that the capital plan has been accelerated through decisions to source external financing (incremental funding outside of the operating budget) and investments in student experience projects. The 2022-23 Fiscal Framework re-established the commitment to fund deferred maintenance of at least $6 million annually.

In addition to the 2023-24 capital and related projects budget, other units maintain significant capital replacement and repairs and maintenance budgets. The Facilities Management budget has $2.15 million in capital replacement and repairs and maintenance costs, Residences has $1.43 million, other Ancillary Operations have $1.11 million and the Information Technology Services budget has $1.11 million included as part of its operating costs. These budgets support building, mechanical, electrical and grounds maintenance projects ranging from elevator maintenance to door repairs to upgrades in equipment and technology.