Asset management has evolved from a traditional approach of ‘last year’s budget plus five percent’ to being a science-based, integrated business function that determines what services we provide, at what level, and with what funding. Put simply, strategic asset management (SAM).
Increasing audits, integrated planning reporting, asset plans and regular comprehensive revaluations have created a new layer of asset governance which is essential for financial sustainability, where there is less and less funding to do more and more with.
As a local government community the sustainable option is to optimise funding to achieve better outcomes, rather than simply seek more funding.
For councils this means additional resources skilled in SAM, which is often not a reality. An example is Palmerston City Council in Northern Territory, who engaged the Assetic SAM Bureau Service to fill this gap.
Palmerston is a high-growth, outer metro council of 12,000 rate payers and is very committed to SAM, particularly as they enter an era of reduced funding and increased community expectations. Palmerston has mandatory ratio reporting, fair value and integrated planning requirements, and council audits are getting significantly more rigorous.
As Director of Corporate Services at Palmerston, Ben Dornier describes, “What we lack is stable in-house skills and resources to manage the data and collate the mandatory ratios, fair value and asset management plans.
“Assetic SAM Bureau service was perfect for us, producing outputs including valuations, 20 year modelling for capital works, long-term funding and ‘what if’ scenarios.
“Assetic’s Bureau is an effective solution for our SAM needs, and will save significant internal resources.”
SAM is here to stay and Assetic has led the charge for a decade, helping councils across Australia maintain a sustainable future for their communities. The SAM Bureau service now extends to data capture, asset plans, financial ratios, condition audits and revaluations for local government.
For more information please visit www.assetic.com.au
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