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City debates price tag on winter snow removal

BY TRACEY DUGUAY [email protected] Council will decide next week whether it's adopting a new winter operations policy costing $9.8 million or $10.4 million a year. BRADLEY There's $10.
BY TRACEY DUGUAY

Council will decide next week whether it's adopting a new winter operations policy costing $9.8 million or $10.4 million a year.

BRADLEY
There's $10.1 million for snow and ice removal built into the current draft 2006 budget, which means depending on the option chosen, the amount will either be around $300,000 under-budget or $300,000 over-budget.

While this may seem a lot of money to the average taxpayer, for the past four years, winter maintenance cost the city in the region of $11.6 million a year and routinely came in way over budget, in some cases, to the tune of $2 million.

To curtail the excessive costs, council requested an external audit by BMA Management Consulting Inc. in 2004, which cost $40,000. The findings of this audit were presented to council in June of this year.

The report identified potential savings of close to $3 million by 2009, provided that new equipment, technology and practices were adopted through the years.

As well, the report recommended the development of a winter maintenance policy to create minimum standards and performance measurements, meet legislative requirements, and provide consistent service levels.

B North Engineering was then hired at a cost of $98,756 to create an implementation strategy for the recommendations put forth by the first consultant's report.

The strategy included the four recommendations on a winter maintenance policy that were presented to council by Alan Stephen, the city's general manager of infrastructure and emergency services, on Monday during a budget meeting.

Given the flurry of debate that took place regarding the options presented, winter maintenance obviously remains a hotly contested subject, and one that, as Ward 2 Councillor Ron Bradley noted, results in more complaints every year than pothole concerns in the summertime.

Eventually, council choose to adopt the model offering two 12-hour shifts providing 24-hour coverage, seven days a week, at a cost of $$9.8 million.

According to the new winter operations service level standards, Class 1 arterial roads - the busiest ones in the city - would be serviced within three hours after an accumulation of 2.5 centimeters of snow.

Class 2 and 3 roads, known as collector routes - still well used by not quite a busy as arterial roads - would be plowed within a five to eight hour period and 5-8 centimeters of snow.

Councillor concerns, especially Terry Kett (Ward 1) and Andre Rivest (Ward 3), focused mainly on the criteria established for residential and rural routes.

The roads, defined as Class 4-6, would receive attention in an 8-24 hour timeframe after being blanketed by 8-10 inches of snow.

These types of concerns led to $10.4 million a year option, which involves the service levels increasing for Class 4-6 routes from 5-10 inches accumulation within 8-24 hours, rather than the 8-10 inches as outlined originally.

In other words, it will cost an extra $548,241 a year to adjust the service levels on residential and rural routes, which also happens to exceed the amount calculated into the 2006 draft operating budget by $300,000.

Council will vote on whether to revise the winter maintenance option on Tuesday during the last of the scheduled budget deliberation sessions. Council is expected to vote on and finalize the budget on Thursday night.


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