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El Cajon finance director warns deferred maintenance and condition assessments must guide capital planning
Summary
Director of Finance Clay Shane told the council El Cajon’s asset records show uneven ages across buildings, pavement and utilities and that condition assessments and long-term funding (including Prop J replacement) are critical to avoid expensive failures. The council unanimously accepted the informational report.
Clay Shane, the city’s director of finance, presented an informational report examining El Cajon’s capital assets and deferred maintenance by asset class. He described a methodology comparing inflation-adjusted replacement costs and estimated useful lives across buildings, bridges, pavement, sidewalks, signal devices and underground systems.
Shane cautioned that accounting depreciation alone can mislead planners: buildings can be halfway through an accounting life yet need immediate roof or mechanical repairs, and underground assets such as sewer lines hide deterioration until failure. Pavement is the city’s largest category (approximately $341 million in today's dollars) and showed high levels of depreciation (about 78% of estimated life), while sidewalks and curbs were described as “forever assets” that require condition assessments to determine missing infrastructure rather than replacement because they often last indefinitely.
Shane recommended securing long-term funding (including the replacement or renewal of Prop J), continuing systematic condition assessments, improving asset-management software and embedding long-term capital planning into decision-making. He emphasized balancing priorities across public-safety services and recreation facilities because restricted and dedicated revenues (for example sewer rates) limit flexibility.
Council accepted the report by unanimous vote and engaged staff on how to prioritize high-risk items and integrate technology changes into asset planning (for example electric-vehicle impacts on pavement wear).
