St. John's snow clearing budget blown

Despite not seeing any snow on the ground so far this fall, the city of St. John's is already over its annual snow clearing budget by more than half a million dollars.

"We're over right now about $660,000 out of our total budget of about $14.9 million. So, it's not a huge overage considering the overall budget because it represents about 4.5 per cent of the overall," said Paul Mackey, director of public works with the city of St. John's.

The budget was blown because of snow that fell last winter. The budget year runs from the beginning of January until the end December. About 320 centimetres fell between January and March. Mackey said that's about 120 centimetres more than normal for that time period in St. John's.

Mackey told CBC News that recent deployments like subdivisions have put a strain on the budget. As the city expands, there is more demand for snow clearing. He said in a couple years, it will be time to reassess the current snow clearing budget.

"That's the biggest single expenditure in the city's budget, I believe, so you know, you would have to give a careful consideration before you raise the level of service. Obviously, we want to keep the same level of service in all the new streets," said Mackey.

Despite being over budget, Mackey said the level of snow clearing this winter will not be affected.