Big dumps of snow this winter have forced the Town of Banff to set up a reserve fund to make sure they don’t go over budget for snow clearing.
On Monday (March 14), council unanimously approved the creation of a winter maintenance operating reserve and directed that $25,000 from a 2010 operating surplus be put into it.
According to Environment Canada, the Town has seen about 39.5 mm of precipitation between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15 of this year alone.
“That’s pretty significant compared to 2010 when we enjoyed a very light snowfall year,” said Les Irvine, the Town of Banff’s public works supervisor.
Because of the huge snow dumps, officials say the municipality is presently $34,000 over what they estimated their snow removal costs would be right now.
The way the reserve fund would be set up would allow the municipality to draw on the reserve to cover extra snow-clearing in heavy snowfall years like this one.
On the other hand, in years when there are unspent funds because of low snowfall, those funds would be used to top up the reserve.
Irvine said internal costs of snow clearing to the Town were $53,140 over a six-week period from the New Year to Feb. 15, plus another $52,932 to pay contractors to haul snow away.
He said 860 tonnes of abrasives and sand have been used this winter, at an estimated cost of $17,000. About 125,000 cubic metres of snow have been cleared from the streets this year.
“These numbers are very significant,” he said. “It’s an above average snow year with above average costs.”
In recent years, the Town of Banff has spent $280,000 annually on winter maintenance, including snow clearing.
In 2010, Irvine said the snow volume was lower than average, resulting in a $25,000 surplus in the streets department budget.
He said contractors were used sparingly then, with most snow removal work done in-house.
“We are able to do this when snow volume is lighter than average,” he said.
“During periods of average snowfall, it is a blend of in-house and external contracted resources. When volumes are above average, we rely heavily on our local contractors.”
