What does it cost to clear Edmonton snow?

Some drivers say the city is missing the mark for clearing city streets. The city says it is meeting targets, and residential clearing will start Monday.

Each year, the City of Edmonton allocates a base budget for snow clearing – but with heavier snowfall comes greater demand for removal and, in turn, increased pressure on city crews and that base budget.

Val Dacyk, the spokesperson for all things ice and snow with the city, said crews have been working as hard as they can within their capabilities and resources.

“As depicted in our snow and ice policy, we are adhering to that to the best of our abilities,” she said in a news conference Wednesday.

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Plows have been tackling significant snowfalls that happened in succession from Christmas Eve to the day after Boxing Day, in order of priority. Crews have been out in full force, however, since early December when the city first began to see significant snowfall.

Priority 4 roads, or residential areas, are set to be cleared beginning Monday at 7 a.m., when a citywide residential parking ban goes into effect.

Some areas like bus routes, however, which city policy dictates should be scraped to bare pavement within one to five days based on priority level, are still seeing an accumulation of snow – which Dacyk said was normal considering the deep freeze temperatures the city experienced only a couple of weeks ago.

“As these weather events happen, whether it’s snow or rain, all of those compile on top of each other, increasing the amount of time that it takes for snow and ice control crews to (clear) the roadways,” she explained.

City council plans indicate snow removal services are on track to be enhanced from 2023 to 2026, thanks to extra money approved for the Snow and Ice Control (SNIC) program in 2022.

That was reflected in 2024 as an increase of $2.6 million of ongoing tax levy funding (i.e., the money primarily collected from property taxes).

Funding for SNIC in Edmonton spans an average snow season in the city from October to April, meaning that money spans two calendar years and, occasionally, two budget cycles.

From October 2024 to April 2025, the most recent recorded data on snow clearing, the city began with a budget of around $65 million. The city went over budget by about $7.4 million during that time.

According to the city’s annual report, that overspending was because of heavy snowfall in a short time period in 2024, which required “a combination of overtime, contractor callouts and hired equipment.”

The extra money came out of the city’s rainy-day fund, which in turn gets topped up when the snow and ice budget costs less than expected for a season.

This newest winter season beginning in October 2025 has a base budget of around $67 million until April of this year. City officials say it won’t be clear how much of that budget is used yet, although Edmonton has already seen double the amount of snow it typically sees in December.

Coun. Jon Morgan told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday he would like to implement more tools to ameliorate traction on the roads and plans to ask city staff about the issue in the future.

In the meantime, Edmontonians will be preparing to once again move their vehicles out of the way for snow plows and navigate slick roads set to come with a temperature thaw next week – during which city crews will begin deploying sand and gravel Dacyk says is already “on board and ready to apply” overnight.

“I definitely understand the frustration that people are dealing with in residential areas … we just thank Edmontonians for their patience while we get everything cleared safely,” she added.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson