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Legislative Fiscal Division launches statewide inventory of local water and other infrastructure
Summary
The Legislative Fiscal Division described an initiative to build baseline inventories and condition assessments for local infrastructure — beginning with water and wastewater systems — to help the legislature project future capital needs and identify maintenance backlogs.
Helena — The Legislative Fiscal Division told the House Subcommittee F it is beginning a multi-year effort to create baseline inventories and condition‑assessment data for local government infrastructure, starting with water and wastewater systems.
Deputy director Joe Treem outlined the project and told the committee the work aims to give legislators defensible estimates of what local infrastructure should cost to maintain over time, and where deferred maintenance backlogs likely exist.
Why it matters: Treem said state and local spending histories do not reliably reflect long‑term infrastructure needs because communities often underinvest until systems fail. The LFD initiative is designed to produce “prototype” system models, condition measures and life‑cycle component costs so the legislature can compare current spending with modeled needs and consider policy or funding responses.
What LFD will do
- Baseline inventory: The fiscal division is assembling an inventory of local water and wastewater systems that captures system type (municipal surface, municipal well, lagoon, active treatment, etc.), service population, and treatment capacity.
- Condition and lifecycle modeling: LFD will work with an engineering firm to populate databases with condition indicators and component life‑spans. For buildings, the division will rely on prior K–12 facility work to avoid duplicating expensive condition assessments.
- Expandable scope: After water and wastewater, LFD plans to address local roads and bridges, stormwater systems and irrigation infrastructure in collaboration with DNRC and other agencies that hold partial data sets.
Testimony and committee reaction
Treem told the committee the effort began in the previous interim and that water and wastewater are top priorities because the state has relatively little centralized data for those assets. Representative Tuss and other members praised the project as a tool that will inform future capital spending decisions. Representative Rosenweig asked whether the work will help identify communities that have not sought assistance; Treem said the database could be drilled down to community level and that future presentations can be adjusted to answer specific legislative questions.
Limitations and next steps
Treem emphasized the work is theoretical and model‑based in part: the division will define prototype systems by size and type, estimate expected annual replacement needs from component life spans, and compare those modeled needs to historical spending to estimate deferred maintenance. He said the committee’s schedule could slow progress during session but that the LFD intends to continue the effort, engage state agencies for data sharing and present interim findings during the interim for committee feedback.
Ending
Committee members welcomed the work and asked LFD to continue refining the approach and present pilot results to the legislature. Treem said the division will proceed with water and wastewater inventories first and then expand to other infrastructure categories.
Speakers quoted in this article are listed in the accompanying speaker list.
