Since amalgamation, Council has directed staff to prepare three 10-year capital forecasts to help the City better plan and manage capital projects. Similar to LRFP I and II, the LRFP III analysis includes capital projects funded through taxes. Water and sewer capital projects, which are funded through the water rate, are analyzed separately in this document. Capital projects for the Ottawa Police Service are also excluded and will be provided separately by the Police Services Board.

LRFP III identifies the City's capital requirements from 2007 to 2016. Similar to LRFP II, capital requirements have been grouped into three broad capital project categories to allow Council to prioritize funding. Different funding is available for different kinds of projects, and strategies to address funding gaps may vary between categories. The categories are:

1) Renewal of City assets - This category reflects funding required to maintain and/or replace existing capital assets throughout the full life of those assets. These assets include buildings, structures, roadways, bridges, vehicles, and equipment.

2) Growth - This category includes projects that were identified in the Development Charges Background Study that align with the goals contained in the City's Official Plan. More specifically, growth projects must have a development charge component that is greater than 30% of the total amount requested. This means developers must pay more than 30% of the cost of the project for it to be considered a capital growth project. Projects where the development charge component is 30% or less are usually categorized as renewal of City assets or strategic initiatives.

3) Strategic initiatives - This category includes Council-directed initiatives identified in the City Corporate Plan. These initiatives include projects that implement City master plans and the Ottawa 20/20 Plan, and can be designed to acquire environmental areas or enhance services currently being provided to residents. Also included are management initiatives to enhance organizational effectiveness, implement new legislative requirements, and respond to changes in demand for service. As identified previously, there are now more projects categorized as strategic initiatives due to the reduced number of services eligible for funding through development charges.

Since LRFP II was adopted in 2004, the City has moved the garbage collection component of solid waste services from the tax bill to a separate user fee. This user fee will become part of the water and sewer bill in January 2007. As taxes are no longer the source of funding for this service, the needs and funding analysis for this component of solid waste is provided in a separate section. Transit capital needs and funding analysis are also separate, as contributions to transit capital are not raised from city-wide taxes. All other capital needs funded from city-wide taxes are consolidated in the last section.

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