City faces $60M price tag for aging roofs in years ahead

The city will have to spend at least $60 million to replace deteriorating roofs on roughly 135 municipal buildings in coming years.

And the bill to deal with 20 of the most urgent cases before 2025 alone is anticipated to ring in at about $20 million.

End-of-life" roofs will require a continued shift in funding from other capital needs in the city's portfolio of 500-plus buildings.

That added investment - 66 per cent of the program in 2021 - will help head off bigger problems down the road, councillors heard during a recent staff update.

Really, what's we're highlighting here is the urgency and the priority of our roof program," facilities director Rom D'Angelo said.

Ensuring roofs are water tight" will avoid costlier emergency replacements and damage to buildings, D'Angelo said.

So this is spending money now to prevent having to spend a lot more money later on," Coun. John-Paul Danko said.

This year, the city's roof management program was already hiked to $3.3 million, which is about 35 per cent of block funding" allocated to buildings.

D'Angelo said staff inspect roofs once a year and flag issues like the puddling" of water that can lead to further assessments.

Leaky roofs can lead to mould growth, poor air quality, and slip-and-fall hazards.

In 2020, the city started designing or replacing new roofs for the Hamilton Farmers' Market, Terryberry library, Westdale library, Spring Valley Arena, Ancaster Seniors' Centre, Valley Park Community Centre and Parkdale Arena.

The city hall garage, along with the Lawfield, Beverly and Carlisle arenas are on the design list for 2021.

Last year, a list of urgent" cases put the farmers market roof as the costliest job at around $1.2 million, with estimated price tags of $900,000, for the Beverly arena and $1 million for the Carlisle arena.

D'Angelo's update Friday followed an overview of the city's $483.3-million overall capital plan proposed for 2021.

Transit projects are the biggest item at $192.9 million, followed by $111.9 million for roads, bridges, sidewalks, street lighting and traffic, $37.7 million for buildings, and $30.3 million for housing.

The city will draw on various revenue streams, including its share of the federal gas tax, development charges, reserves and a 0.9 per cent tax levy hike.

But on Friday, elected officials opted to hold off on approving the capital budget to allow for more talks on Dec. 3.

So far, the 2021 operating budget hike is 3.3 per cent, which is $122 for a an average household assessed at $380, 300. With more talks ahead, council is scheduled to approve the roughly $1-billion plan at the end of March.

Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com