Why Asset Management Matters to City Leadership

Cities rely on extensive infrastructure systems to deliver safe water, reliable utilities, and essential public services. Much of this infrastructure is underground, out of sight, and aging. For City Managers and elected officials, one of the most important governance questions is:

How can the City responsibly maintain, repair, and replace its infrastructure if it does not clearly understand what assets it owns, where those assets are located, and what condition they are in?

This question is the foundation of effective asset management and long term infrastructure stewardship.

Understanding What the City Owns

Cities often manage thousands of individual assets, including water and wastewater systems, treatment facilities, streets, drainage infrastructure, vehicles, and equipment. While these assets represent a significant public investment, many communities lack a complete and current inventory.

Without a clear understanding of what the City owns, budget development and capital planning are often based on historical spending patterns or assumptions. This can result in underfunding critical infrastructure, misallocating resources, or facing costly emergency repairs that were not anticipated during the budget process.

Understanding Where Assets Are Located

Knowing where infrastructure assets are located is essential for efficient operations and coordinated capital planning. Accurate location data allows staff to identify conflicts, bundle projects, and plan construction activities more effectively.

From a leadership perspective, reliable asset location information supports smarter Capital Improvement Program development by helping ensure projects are scheduled logically, coordinated across departments, and aligned with long term infrastructure needs rather than short term fixes.

Understanding Asset Condition and Risk

Asset condition data allows City leadership to understand infrastructure risk in practical terms. When staff can identify which assets are nearing the end of their useful life or present the highest risk of failure, capital investments can be prioritized accordingly.

This risk based approach strengthens both annual budget development and multi year CIP planning. Instead of reacting to failures, the City can proactively schedule replacements, spread costs over time, and reduce the likelihood of emergency expenditures that disrupt adopted budgets.

Strengthening Budget Development

Asset management provides a defensible foundation for budget decisions. When operating and capital budgets are supported by asset data, funding requests can be clearly tied to documented needs, expected service life, and risk reduction.

For City Managers, this improves internal budget discussions and helps align departmental requests with overall fiscal goals. For elected officials, it provides transparency and confidence that infrastructure funding decisions are data driven, necessary, and fiscally responsible.

Improving Capital Improvement Planning

A well-developed asset management program directly supports a stronger, more strategic Capital Improvement Program. Asset data allows staff to forecast long term replacement needs, sequence projects over multiple budget cycles, evaluate funding options and affordability, and coordinate investments across departments.

The result is a CIP that is proactive, financially sustainable, and aligned with the City’s long term objectives and community priorities.

How LSPS Solutions Supports Cities

LSPS Solutions assists cities of all sizes with developing practical, scalable asset management programs that directly support operations, budget development, and Capital Improvement Planning.

Our team has extensive experience helping small and mid sized communities build asset inventories, assess condition and risk, and translate technical data into clear planning and financial decision support tools for City leadership.

LSPS Solutions has performed asset management services for small cities across Texas through the Texas Water Development Board’s Asset Management Planning for Small Systems (AMPSS) Program for two consecutive years. Through this program, we have helped communities establish foundational asset management practices that support long term sustainability and funding eligibility.

In recognition of this experience and performance, LSPS Solutions has recently been awarded four additional AMPSS projects for 2026. These projects continue our work assisting communities with understanding their infrastructure, improving planning, and strengthening financial decision making.

Asset Management as a Leadership and Governance Tool

Asset management is not simply an operational exercise. It is a leadership and governance tool that supports sound budgeting, responsible capital planning, regulatory compliance, and long term community resilience.

By integrating asset management into budget development and CIP planning, City leadership demonstrates a commitment to fiscal responsibility, infrastructure sustainability, and transparent decision making.