The Town of Outlook has been able to reallocate resources in order to keep snow removal in budget, but other aspects of public works get neglected.
Here's Outlook's CAO Kevin Trew with more. "It detracts from other duties that we would get done in the winter season. We expanded our public works department in 2022. We noticed that we had room for another employee. We're benefiting from that extra help now, but we also have things to watch out for, like overtime. The snow doesn't seem to fall during regular operating hours."
Not all of the snow removal budget is handled by town staff, some has to be contracted out. Trew recalls an instance this winter where they got lucky with hiring a company to truck snow out of town. "We had some storms close together and we didn't get it all hauled out before the next one. So even though it was more snow, it was in the same location and it didn't double our expense."
The Town of Leader said they've gone over budget with salting, sanding, and strong North winds. Erin Romanuik is the CAO, "We did have a lot of snow blow in from the North this year." She said "We've upped our sanding and salting due to the rains. We had to do a lot more snow removal this year and we had to truck the snow out."
Romanuik added that part of the reason they truck so much out is a preventative measure to avoid flooding in the spring.
The Town of Biggar's CAO Marty Baroni mentioned that the town is within budget and all snow removal has been dealt with by the public works department. "If we had to hire any outside contractors or additional services then our snow removal budget would have increased, but we haven't had to do that yet. It's been a typical year for us."
Sat, Apr 20, 8:30 AM
