Prince George, B.C. – It is the time of the year when  the City  gets plenty of calls about  snow removal and  when  certain roads will be cleared.

The City is responsible for clearing 670 kilometers of roads, and 184 kilometers of sidewalks.  When  there is a  heavy snowfall,  information will be available on the City’s website,  in the form of an interactive map that allows residents to click on their  particular street to  find out  the time frame for it to be cleared.

In order to  do all that work,  the City has  retained  5 graders,  leased two more   to   help the City’s own 5 graders  get the job  done. “The additional  units bring our grader total to 12” says  Blake McIntosh General Manager of Roads and Fleet services.   He says having one extra grader in the mix  will provide “improved efficiency,   support the Ice and Snow Control  Procedures level  standards”.

With $2.6 million spent on  snow and ice control  from January to March of this year,  Councillor Brian Skakun wanted to know how much  was left in the budget for the balance of 2016.  Seven million had been  budgeted for the  full year,  so there is  still a fair chunk of cash  left  and only 39 days left in this year.  That means there should be more than enough  to  deal with whatever Mother Nature  throws   this way,  and  have  some  left over to  put  in reserve.

“We  would like to build a reserve that is approximately 25% of  the $7 million dollar budget” says Director of Finance Chris Dalio.  “This year has been very, very  good to us and should it continue that way, we should be able to achieve that surplus level in just one year.”