How much does snow removal cost cities in the Region of Waterloo?

CTV’s Ashley Bacon finds out how much cities in Waterloo Region budget for snow removal every year.

As the cleanup from last week’s snowstorms continue, it is starting to add up for cities in Waterloo Region.

Crews have been working around the clock, tackling main roads, side streets and sidewalks. However, with half a dozen snow events being declared this year, some communities are dipping into reserves to pay for it.

“Typically each year we budget for five of them because we use our historical records to set that. And so far, we are actually at number six so we are over budget, or we’re likely going to be over budget this year due to the crazy conditions that we’ve been seeing now,” said Scott Davey, a Kitchener city councillor.

The City of Kitchener set aside $5.6 million for winter maintenance. The city budgets for five snow events, but if they get less than five, the rest is put into a surplus account. If they go over five, they draw from that account.

The City of Waterloo had a $4.2 million winter control budget for this year.

“We haven’t had to touch the reserve that we have since 2022. It’s a bit too soon to tell yet if we’ll have to go into that reserve because there’s been other - December was fairly light, so we’ll just have to wait and see,” said Mayor Dorothy McCabe.

The City of Cambridge does not have their numbers yet but said they do have a reserve fund ready to go – if needed.

“We do have a $1.2 million reserve fund in case snow clearing does go over budget,” said Scott Hamilton, a Cambridge city councillor.

The winter isn’t over yet but so far it’s been a snowy one.

“Between December and March we usually receive 5 to 20 centimetres of snow and we received 50 centimetres of snow in one week. So our crews are moving as quickly as possible,” Hamilton said.

Removing the snow is an added hurdle.

“Where we truly run out of room for snow, there will be snow loading operations that start and that’s very labour intensive. And it takes a significant amount of time to do that kind of work,” said McCabe.

Cities also have budgets to clear regional roads within the boundaries.

“The Region of Waterloo is effectively managing its operations maintenance budget to ensure safe and accessible roads. Budgets are set annually based on actual spend over the previous three to five years to allow for lighter or heavier winter years while prioritizing effective operations,” said a spokesperson for the Region of Waterloo, in a statement to CTV News.

On Wednesday, both the City of Waterloo and the City of Kitchener said it would be extending snow events and parking bans so crews could continue to clear roads and sidewalks of snow.

Parking is not allowed and could result in the vehicle being ticketed or towed.