Sudbury on track for a 2024 snow removal budget surplus
City was set for a $2.6 million surplus at the end of April
Despite some recent snowstorms, the City of Greater Sudbury is on track for a snow removal surplus for 2024.
Joe Rocca, the city's director of linear infrastructure services, said Sudbury was on track for a $2.6 million surplus for the snow removal budget by the end of April.
"Even if we had average amounts of snow for November and December, we'd still be in a surplus at the end of the year. And you know, we're still on track for that," he said.
The city's snow removal budget, like the overall budget, follows the calendar year from January to the end of December.
Rocca said a surplus for 2024 can be a help if 2025 goes over budget due to higher than average snowfall.
"We usually run into problems with our budget when we get excess amounts of snow," Rocca said.
"When we're having to start doing snow removal from the roads to widen lanes, open up site lines and just generally remove snow from the roadway, that's a really expensive activity."
Rocca said the city works with contractors to clear roads during major snowstorms, and together they operate more than 80 pieces of equipment, from snowplows to sidewalk plows and trucks the city deploys to clear cul-de-sacs.
Like all cities in Ontario, Sudbury follows minimum maintenance standards for snow removal.
City crews start salting main arterial roads – such as Regent and Lorne Streets – once a storm begins, and plowing commences on those streets once at least five centimetres of snow has hit the roads.
For most residential streets, plowing starts once there are eight centimetres of snow.
Based on those standards, the city has to clear all of its 3,600 kilometres of its roads 24 hours after a storm has ended.
"If you put those roads all in a line, that would get you from Sudbury to the Mexico border, to give you perspective," Rocca said.
In Sault Ste.Marie, significant snowstorms in the last month have cut into a potential surplus for the end of the year.
"We're definitely starting to eat into the surplus that we were really hoping to bring forward for 2025," said Dan Perri, the city's director of public works.
As of Dec. 12, Perri said the city received about 1.5 metres of snowfall, which is more than normal.
Perri said colder weather would help Lake Superior freeze and would reduce the lake effect snow, which contributes to significant snowstorms for the region.
For private contractors, the return to a more normal winter, compared to last season, is a welcome development.
A good year for private operators
Daryl Volpel owns North Rock Property Services in Sudbury, and provides snow removal services for residential and business customers.
Because his customers either pay month-to-month, or at the start of the winter season, Volpel said he was profitable last year due to lower expenses.
"Right now, we're almost at the same amount of times that we've gone out as last year total," he said.
But he added that he would rather have his employees out clearing people's driveways more often, being visible and proving the value of the service.
"I'd rather be out there providing the service than sitting at home and just saying, well it's insurance," he said.
Volpel said a snowy winter also helps grow his business, since it shows the value for snow removal for future winters.