Despite one of the hottest days of the year in Winnipeg, the city is already thinking about snow clearing.
A new report to be tabled at a meeting next week will look to increase the snow-removal budget along with other ways to improve the snow-clearing process in Winnipeg.
It is becoming a tradition for the city to surpass that budget. Since 2013, it has gone over that total every time.
Last year’s $34.7 million budget was surpassed by more than $50 million ($87.17 million total).
City councillor and Public Works committee chair Janice Lukes says the way they used to cover those costs is not reliable anymore.
“In previous years, we would draw on our rainy day fund, but due to the impacts of COVID, we don’t have much of a rainy day fund to draw on,” Lukes said.
One popular complaint across the city is the state of sidewalks after a big snowfall.
The report says 15 additional sidewalk machines are expected to be delivered to Winnipeg in August and more operators will be trained.
And lower-priority (P3) sidewalks would be plowed within 36 hours of a 5-centimetre snowfall, which is the same timeline as Priority 1 and 2 sidewalks and pathways.
Under the current policy, the P3 paths get cleared after an 8-centimetre snowfall in a five-day time period.
New technology is also being proposed to give Winnipeggers a real-time look at where plows are working. The Automatic Vehicle Location technology, which provides updates on the progress of plows, could be ready by January.
“I’m very optimistic these significant changes are going to make a big difference next year,” Lukes said.
The report will be discussed at Monday’s Standing Policy Committee on Public Works.