The City of Estevan has no plans to alter the method it uses to remove snow from city streets, even though three snowstorms late last year pushed snow removal expenses well above the budgeted amount.
Speaking with the Mercury last week, city manager Jeff Ward said the city spent $398,000 on snow removal in 2016, which includes sanding, machinery and contractor costs. The budgeted amount was $260,000.
Ironically, the city had spent around $50,000 on snow removal in 2016 until the first of three storms hit on Nov. 28. But the city received three significant snow dumps in the last five weeks of the year; the latter two resulted in blizzard warnings.
“The biggest thing, obviously, was getting the additional contractor support,” said Ward. “We usually budget between $90,000 and $100,000 (on contractors) each year, and last year we spent $225,000.”
Each large storm that hits the city costs about $100,000, thanks to money spent on overtime and contractors.
Ward noted that after the first snowstorm hit in late November, he spoke with Norm Mack, the manager of roads and drainage for the city’s public works division, and discussed how to proceed with clearing the streets, how to manage overtime, and how to handle contractors.
They decided to remove all the snow from the streets, and Ward believes it was the right move, since Estevan was hammered by the first blizzard a week later. Most of the streets had been cleared when the blizzard struck.
“Great on Norm for identifying the issues that could potentially happen if we got multiple snowfalls of significant amounts,” said Ward.
The final storm, which also generated a blizzard, arrived on Christmas Day. Ward expects the Christmas Day storm was likely the most expensive, because they were paying additional wages on stat holidays.
Ward believes people will be accepting of extra expenses for snow removal if they see a benefit from it. He compared the snowstorms late last year to being a “one in 100 years event,” since it was the most snow that Estevan ever recorded in December.
And many of the arterial roads were clear of snow and ice until Estevan received another snow storm in early February.
Ward reported that most of the comments he has received on snow removal have been positive, and he believes that reflects the general public’s stance on the snow removal efforts.
If Estevan receives another large dump of snow this winter, they will follow the same snow-clearing method as last year.
“Norm has been working here for a long time, and he’s really perfected that priority street snow removal (list), and it worked perfectly,” said Ward. “So there’s nothing he would change in that event.”
There might be some changes with the allocation or management of snow dump sites, Ward said, since they spent a lot of time pushing snow into higher piles late last year.
He predicted the decision to remove as much snow as they have should also help in the spring, as the city won’t have to spend as much money on pothole repairs and crack filling.
The city has budgeted $264,000 for snow removal in 2017. Ward said he didn’t want to increase the snow removal budget by a significant amount simply because Estevan had a lot of snow late last year.
“I wouldn’t start putting in a contingency of 300-grand in budget, and not doing sidewalk repair, or not doing road renewal,” said Ward.
