When your budget is directly impacted by Mother Nature, it can be a bit more like a shot in the dark rather than a well laid-out plan.
On Monday, the City of Lethbridge and the Town of Coaldale spoke to Global News to explain how their snow removal budgets work.
“In 2011, I think that was the worst year, because we didn’t have a budget to handle the major snowfall that hit and we were almost $3 million over and we had about a $1.6 million-budget,” Darwin Juell, transportation manager with the City of Lethbridge, said.
The snow removal budget runs from January to December.
Here are the budget numbers for the last few years:
2013
Budget: $3,608,020
Over budget by: $208,477
2014
Budget: $3,720,432
Under budget by: $495, 201
2015
Budget: $3,858,600
Under budget by: $1,163,096.
2016
Budget: $3,938,587
Under budget by: $717,178
Juell said the city increases the budget each year based on the increase of roads in the city and on a two per cent inflation rate.
The budget is based on an average winter, so if Mother Nature doesn’t play nice, Juell added the city has to dip into extra funds.
“That’s what the municipal stabilization reserve is for. There are pluses and minuses all across the city and so any surplus goes into the reserve and any overages come out of the reserve, ” he said. “So that goes back into city tax funds to be used for something else.”
For the Town of Coaldale, it’s a bit of a different story. Money saved on snow removal isn’t used for other expenses. Instead, it’s saved for a wild winter like the one we are seeing this year.
“Its been an expensive snow season so far but nothing that will effect this years bottom line,” the Town of Coaldale’s CAO, Kalen Hastings, said. “Right now, we have about $170,000 sitting in our snow reserve. This last snow removal – that took place over the Christmas holidays and New Year’s – cost about $70,000. With that money, our crews – with contractor assistance – were able to plow every street in Coaldale.”
On average, Coaldale budgets about $50,000 to $60,000 for snow removal each year, but thanks to those reserves, they still have money left over in case spring comes in like a lion.
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