City urged to boost snow-clearing budget to $54M

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This article was published 21/06/2023 (840 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Snow clearing is likely the last thing Winnipeggers have in mind as they sweat it out amid scorching temperatures, but city council is pondering a massive boost to the snow-clearing budget and ways to improve the service.

After repeated storms wreaked havoc with city finances in recent years, council should earmark $54.2 million annually for the snow and ice control budget, according to a staff proposal. That annual funding has remained stuck in the $34-million to $36-million range for several years.

In 2022, council budgeted $34.7 million to clear snow but actually spent $87.2 million after repeated storms, resulting in a $52.5-million overrun. Smaller snow-clearing deficits have occurred every year since 2013.

Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of the public works committee, said she expects to support the budget hike.

“I am supportive of increasing the budget for snow removal. If we look at the 10-year rolling average, clearly (the existing budget) is not sufficient to meet what we’ve been experiencing,” said Lukes.

If council approves, the higher tab would be referred to the 2024 to 2027 budget process.

Lukes noted 15 new sidewalk snow-clearing machines, which were approved last year, are expected to arrive in August and contractors are slated to take on additional routes to help clear sidewalks faster.

The new report also calls for changes to ramp up snow clearing on so-called priority three sidewalks and pathways, such as those alongside residential streets.

Residents should notice the changes next winter, the councillor said.

“I think that we are going to see a dramatic improvement in our snow removal,” said Lukes.

Following repeated complaints about delays in clearing snow and ice off sidewalks over the past few winters, the report offers two options to improve service on residential sidewalks and pathways.

The first would ramp up the level of snow-clearing on residential routes to match those that line main routes and collector streets, by plowing the residential ones after a five centimetre snowfall (instead of the current eight cm) and within 36 hours after the end of an average storm (instead of the current five days.)

That would cost an extra $11.8 million for 54 more sidewalk-clearing machines, plus $7.2 million more to cover leased equipment, snow-clearing contracts and additional city staff, the report estimates.

Alternatively, the city could plow residential sidewalks and pathways after a five cm snowfall (instead of eight cm) but begin only after plowing on higher priority walkways is finished. After one winter of testing, the city would set a realistic target to complete that work for the following winter.

The report estimates the second option would cost about $541,000 more, which Lukes said she plans to support.

An advocate who has pushed the city to ramp up its sidewalk snow-clearing for folks with or without mobility challenges said he plans to urge the city to achieve the more expensive clearing target.

“Ideally, the first option would be the one I’d want them to go for, just on a human rights basis and the ability for individuals to get out into the community. (With the second option), if we get multiple storms, like we did (the winter before last), no sidewalks (may ever) really be clean,” said David Kron, the executive director of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba.

Kron, who uses a cane, said he’s glad to see the city tackle the issue well before the snow arrives.

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City crews also plan to implement a second round of snow clearing next winter to ensure snow spilled by road plows doesn’t block sidewalks and paths, said Michael Cantor, Winnipeg’s manager of streets maintenance.

“By the end of the plow, it will look as if the machine was the last one to touch (an area). There’s different barriers that (snow-clearing can) create for users. People with wheelchairs, people that have different disabilities, it’s harder for them to cross those wind rows. It’s just going to be a smoother surface,” said Cantor.

Council’s public works committee is set to vote on the report on June 26. Any budget changes would require council approval.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.