Snow Removal Costs Exceed Budget

Wednesday, January 10, 2007 03:59 AM

It has been one hectic year for snow removal, and the final bill for 2006 shows the snow removal department went over budget by just over a million dollars.

The budget for 2006 was set at $4.172 million dollars, and the actual expenditures as of 11:59 December 31st, came in at $5.281 million. That means $1.109 million will have to be pulled from the snow removal reserve. That will virtually wipe out the reserve which has $1.15 million

Supervisor of the Streets Division, Ed Shearer, says it has been one wild winter. Shearer says he moved here 25 years ago from Dawson Creek "I wanted to get away from all the snow" he says with a laugh.

He’s been working with the City for 15 years, and was put in charge of the Streets Division in October, just before the first big dump of snow hit. There have been some challenges this year "Everytime we got a heavy snowfall, the contractors we normally use were of course busy clearing all the parking lots and private areas they are normally hired to clear, so it wasn’t always easy to get a full team together." He says with two shifts working ’round the clock, some contractors had difficulty finding workers to operate the equipment as many of the people who are qualified to do the work are employed in the oil patch.

Shearer says the budgets are based on the "average" winter. "I know some oldtimers will tell you this is more like the winter Prince George used to get, but we really haven’t had this kind of snowfall for about 8 years now", says Shearer who says the old fashioned cold is also on the way "Windchill today is supposed to dip to the minus 40 range....just like the old days!"

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 03:59 AM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: jonnypg on January 10 2007 4:52 AM

Then there should be 8 years of saved up money.

Posted by: anniemartin on January 10 2007 7:29 AM

Should have budgetted for this type of snowfall. Prince George is after all in Northern Canada where is expected to snow and can snow a lot. This shows very poor planning. I agree with jonnypg - should have saved from the last 8 years for the "exceptional" year of snowfall.

Posted by: owl on January 10 2007 9:54 AM

So it is budget time and I hope our 9 rocket scientists sitting around the Council table will see that the wise thing to do is to increase the budget for snow clearing and increase the reserve as well. That way there will be no surprises after the fact.

We, as taxpayers also have to realize that that will increase taxes, or the money has to be found somewhere else. However, like potholes, this issue will linger. This is a basic service in a "winter city".

At the same time, deal with the realities of the contract situations and negotiate some better contracts or hire a few more core staff, whichever is cheaper. This problem is one Alberta faces as well. Do not use it as an excuse. Realize it is a fact of life for now, if not longer, and work it out like any good manager would.

In other words, fix the problem and don't give us excuses of why your job is tough. The snow does not get cleared that way.

And to think that our people went to some conference telling others how to clear snow in the winter. When I heard that I had to laugh.

Posted by: lou on January 10 2007 10:21 AM

Fire Ed.
Get SOMEONE in there that knows even a little about PG winters.
It's called PLANING AHEAD.

Posted by: Chadermando on January 10 2007 3:51 PM

He has a point about the contractors. Hard to gather them all up at times when they hadve other contracts for sure.

Maybe the city needs to firm up their own contract commitments. I don't thnk that would be Eds job.

Posted by: Foo738 on January 10 2007 8:03 PM

February is generally our big snow month.
I would like to see more City employees. Contractors are ok but they are not invested in looking after "homneowners"; the owners are more after "contracts".

Posted by: Palopu on January 11 2007 12:00 PM

Has anybody noticed that they get their streets cleared the day before garbage day. I have had this happen on a number of occasions this winter. In fact I have not had better snow clearing than I have had this year,in the past we would wait 8-10 days for clearance in some cases. Now they clear before garbage collection on a regular basis.

Now the question is. Is the City clearing streets in conjuction with garbage collection to facilitate the New Garbage trucks, and City collection system. How well does this system work if the streets are not plowed?? I understand the need to clear streets for Bus's however it would be interesting to know if we are now clearing streets for garbage trucks, and if so at what additional cost.

Anybody else getting their street cleaned prior to Garbage day???

Posted by: kagee on January 11 2007 12:44 PM

I noticed that I get my street plowed the day before garbage day. Great way to be reminded to put out the garbage bin!

Posted by: owl on January 11 2007 1:17 PM

Our garbage day is Monday ... streets have not been cleared of snow yet ... 48 hours or so after the last flurry dropped ... will watch for it and report back.

Posted by: owl on January 11 2007 1:28 PM

"Maybe the city needs to firm up their own contract commitments. I don't thnk that would be Eds job."

I think they need a re-look at it also, especially knowing what is tending to happen - fewer workers in the community, and private parking lots getting seeming priority.

Should it be Ed's job? I do not know whether it is or not. However, I do know from my experience that it should be. He is the one who has the important relationship with the contractors, the one who should know them better than anyone else, the oen who has to decide whether they perfrom to the intent of the contract, and the one who can best tell whether, if they are not, the conditions have changed sufficiently form the intent to cut them some slack.

This is the problem with compartmentalized bureaucracy. Everyone only has part of the information, especially the person to person experience. No matter waht anyone says, working relationships are important. I am more likely to come to an unusual call from a client if I know that client, if I have been respected by that client, and I can be a bit "closer" with that client with respect to knowing the requirements.

Purchasing might write the final document and they may cut the cheque based on certification from the field person, but they are best dealing with such things behind the scenes and letting the "point person" handle all normal face to face situations for consistency, better understanding, and better service.

Posted by: owl on January 12 2007 8:36 AM

Street cleared last night - Thursday. Garbage pick-up on Monday.