Storm to hit city hall in the wallet

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This article was published 10/10/2019 (1861 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While Winnipeg prepared to dig itself out of an unexpected fall snowstorm, councillors Friday were reminded they’re about to blow through the funds set aside this year for snowclearing.

City council had approved $34.8 million for snowclearing in 2019, but, thanks to a record amount of snow in February, just about all of the money has been spent.

Councillors on the finance committee were told Friday, coming into this week, the snowclearing tab had reached $34.2 million, leaving about $600,000 remaining to deal with what might come until the end of the year.

However, when it comes to snowclearing, the city’s policy is: the work takes priority, and the money is found later.

Paul Olafson, Winnipeg interim chief financial officer, said the cost to deal with this week’s storm likely won’t be known until sometime next week, with final bills coming in the week after.

In the past, the cost to dig out from a typical Winnipeg snowstorm ranged from $5 million to $7 million, including a complete street and sidewalk clearing.

Initially, the city had pencilled in about $11.86 million for snowclearing from September to the end of the year — enough to cover two storms — but the cost will likely be higher to dig out from the heavy, wet snow blanketing the city this week.

Officials had been projecting a year-end deficit of $6.9 million, but the committee was told Friday that figure could now end up higher, depending on snowclearing costs for the rest of the year.

Jason Ruby, Winnipeg acting corporate controller, said officials hadn’t counted on a snowstorm in early October, adding the city will dip into the fiscal stabilization reserve account (currently at $103.2 million) to balance its budget, if necessary.

“We’ll continue to monitor results as the year progresses,” Ruby said. “We’ll have to look at what happens with this (snowstorm) and get a handle on what those costs might be, and get a plan together to see how we can address that.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca