Storm’s timing behind unspent sidewalk-clearing budget, city official says
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/01/2017 (3486 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Public works officials confirmed Monday that city hall underspent its sidewalk snow-clearing budget for 2016 and the shortfall was greater than civic officials initially disclosed.
But the department explained it was the timing of the late-December snowstorm, and no other reason, that prevented the budget from being exhausted.
The Free Press reported Sunday that the department had spent only $2.8 million of its $3.86-million sidewalk snow-clearing budget.
The department told councillors on the finance committee the shortfall was greater — only $2.5 million had been spent on sidewalk snow clearing.
Lester Deane, the director of public works, told the finance committee the storms occurred so late in the year, it wouldn’t have been possible to spend the entire budget.
“It wouldn’t have mattered how much money we had, we couldn’t have spent it in the time we had left,” he said, explaining the city was unable to clear the sidewalks from the Dec. 25-26 storm in the last of the year.
Deane and other public works officials said that much of the sidewalk clearing this month was to deal with the late-December snow.
Deane’s explanation was in contrast to the denials over the weekend from the city’s director of communications, Felicia Wiltshire, who insisted there had not been any underspending in the sidewalk-clearing budget.
Jim Berezowsky, the city’s street maintenance manager who is responsible for the overall snow-clearing effort, told the committee Monday that every available piece of equipment was in operation.
Coun. Scott Gillingham, chairman of the finance committee, said that while some sidewalk-clearing equipment may be out of service while being repaired, the department hires private contractors to make up the difference.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
