The City of Calgary defended its snow-removal spending one week after a massive storm brought 26 centimetres of snow to the region.
Calgary budgets $38.3 million annually for snow removal. According to Environment Canada, the city sees an average of 128.8 centimetres of snow a year.
Despite a snowfall range between 61 to 175 centimetres between 2014 to 2016, the city’s annual snow removal budget has varied by only $6 million.
Troy McLeod, the roads manager with the City of Calgary, told Global News you cannot make a straight-line comparison between snowfall and snow removal costs.
He said you have to consider multiple factors like the duration of snow events, ambient temperatures and weather conditions like wind.
The city’s latest storm was discussed at city council Monday, as councillors reviewed whether Calgary’s seven-day snow removal plan was as efficient and effective as it could have been.
Last week, Ward 1 Coun. Ward Sutherland said Calgary would need to nearly double its annual budget if the city were to cut their response time in half.
READ MORE: Calgary councillor calls for city to rethink snow-removal plan
McLeod told Global News the city has already spent $13 million on snow removal in 2017, $2 million of that was on the storm that started Feb. 3. There has been just over 39 centimetres of snow so far this year.
McLeod said even though the city has snow removal staff scheduled 24/7 during winter months, the latest snow event brought unusual circumstances with it.
“There were four straight days of snow, the temperatures were extremely cold and the heaviest snow occurred on a Sunday.”
He said they had to start with gravel versus salt because chlorides in salt have no effect on melting when it is below -13 C. Crews also had to keep going over their Priority 1 routes because it snowed over so many days.
Priority 1 routes are roads that see over 20,000 vehicles in a day like Macleod Trail or Glenmore Trail.
Calgary’s seven-day snow removal plan was still in effect Monday with crews working on improving accessibility on wheelchair ramps, crosswalks, transit routes, breaking down significant windrows and carrying that snow away.
Unspent snow removal money goes into a reserve and can be used in future years. McLeod said that reserve is capped at $15 million.
The city does count on Mother Nature to help with snow removal every year. Calgary’s chinooks help keep the budget down by melting a lot of the excess snow.
According to Global Calgary weather meteorologist Paul Dunphy, Calgary will see an average of 27 chinook days in a year.
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