Severe winter weather in Greater Sudbury since the start of 2016 has pushed the city's snowplowing budget seriously into the red.
In a report going to the city's operations committee April 18, city staff says winter roads maintenance is over budget by $1.2 million for the months of January and February.
Heavy snow in both months greatly exceeded the normal amounts. In January, for example, 91 cm of snow fell, compared to the usual 60 cm; in February, 117 fell, compared to the 52 cm that falls in an average year.
“Large over expenditures occurred in sanding/salting/plowing, snow removal and sidewalk maintenance,” the report said. “Under expenditures in winter ditching/spring cleanup and miscellaneous winter roads partially offset some of these over expenditures.”
The red ink contrasts with the end of 2015, when mild weather left the city with a $600,000 surplus. But a year earlier, the budget went over by $900,000 as a result of one of the coldest and longest winters on record.
Surpluses from winter maintenance are put into a reserve fund that is used to pay for years there are deficits in the budget. After a few warm winters several years ago that saw the fund grow, it was largely drained as the department ran deficits as high as $3 million in 2013. The total budget is around $16 million a year.
