Big Snow Clearing Bill

Written by Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM Friday, 20 February 2015 13:00

The bill for cleaning up the big snow storms that hit the Vernon area last month was a whopper. The city says 451-thousand dollars was spent on snow and ice control in January, 275-thousand above average. "The amount includes all services required to address the large snow event that occurred on January 4, 2015," says a report to city council from the operations department. Mayor Akbal Mund says about 180-thousand dollars of the tab was for removing and hauling the snow to other sites. "That's where a lot of the cost was because you had a lot of contractors trucking the snow off the streets, and that's where the cost gets enormous," Mund tells Kiss FM. The city has already used up about two thirds of its $658,000 snow budget for 2015, but the mayor says with spring hopefully not far away, it shouldn't be a problem. "Typically by March you don't get a lot of big snowfalls, not within the city limits," says Mund. Mund says it could be much worse when you consider the weather other areas have had to deal with. "When you look at what's happening back east, you shake your head and feel we're lucky that we've only had one major snowfall, and every 50 or 60 years, I guess we can plan for one of those."