By Spencer Sterritt

Nanaimo’s 2017 snow removal budget already tapped out

Feb 20, 2017 | 10:33 AM

NANAIMO — After two debilitating snowstorms at the beginning of February, the City of Nanaimo has exceeded their entire snow removal budget for 2017.

It cost $640,000 to finish the job, using all of the $400,000 budget and more than half of the $400,000 reserve fund.

David Myles, the manager of roads and traffic for the City of Nanaimo, said having crews out 24/7 to handle the storm churned through their budget.

“Just as we got things done and we were ready to move into the secondary routes, we’d get hit with another wave of snow and have to go back and make sure out emergency routes were open,” he said.

The budget was determined by averaging the last five years of service. It was cut by $200,000 by city council after several low years, Myles said.

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In 2016 there was $87,000 left of their $599,000 budget.

Myles said he and his crews are hoping for a green December, but if they don’t they’ll finish off the reserve fund and take money from the general contingency fund if they have to.

Overall, he said his crews, who were mostly new drivers experiencing their first Nanaimo winter, handled the intense snowfall well.

Over the weekend it stormed and the following Wednesday, residents were energized online about if their streets had been cleared or not.

Myles said he’s pleased to receive any feedback, whether good or bad.

“It’s good for us to learn from and improve our operations. Even the negative feedback, and I know there was some out there, to me was an indication of what we need to tweak.”

-with files from Dominic Abassi

spencer.sterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit