The City of Prince George paid almost $4.4 million towards snow control costs in the last two months of 2024, leading to a final bill of just shy of $10.6 million for the entire year.
At council’s next meeting on Wednesday, April 23, two snow-related items are on the agenda.
First is a breakdown of snow control costs for November and December of last year and second is a report on possible savings to the city if snow clearing service was reduced on statutory holidays.
A report on the first subject reveals $4,478,236.40 in costs for those months.
That included $1,252,489 for labour costs, $1,169,473 for city equipment costs, $1,081,228 in external equipment costs, $551,999 to purchase winter traction materials and chlorides, $286,224 in overtime costs, $98,000 for equipment retainers and $38,823 for safety supplies and snow dump costs.
There were three priority snow events in the last two months of 2024. The first, on Nov. 24, saw 151 millimetres of snow and cost the city $496,949 to manage.
The second, on Nov. 29, dropped 200 mm of snow and cost $649,459. The last was on Dec. 18, which dropped 114 mm of snow and cost $540,552.
Having staff ready to respond to snow events, the report said, costs the city around $133,000 per week. Having equipment on retainer costs about $57,000 per month.
Some city staff ratified a new collective agreement last year, which meant that some employees were eligible for retroactive pay. The city paid out $296,000 in retroactive pay in 2024.
Across the entire year, the city paid $743,589 for winter road maintenance materials and chlorides.
When council last discussed snow control policies this February, the final cost for 2024 was estimated at around $10.6 million.
A city spokesperson told The Citizen that snow control costs for the first 10 months of the year was $6,107,137.32. Combined with the total for November and December, that means that the final snow control costs for 2024 were $10,583,373.72.
That’s $283,373.72 more than the $10.3 million budgeted for snow control in 2024. For 2025’s budget, city council voted to reduce the snow control budget to just $10 million.
As for the report on reducing snow clearing services on statutory holidays, it said that currently, priority one and two routes need to be cleared within 48 hours when there’s accumulated snow of 7.5 centimetres or greater.
Priority three routes need to be cleared within 72 hours after priority one and two routes have been completed and when 12 or more centimetres of snow has accumulated.
To meet those timelines, the report said continuous 24-hour operations are required, meaning crews must work through weekends and holidays.
For each day operations are paused during snow events that meet these thresholds, city administration estimates that it would save $211,501, representing three shifts’ worth of work.
“Should a snow event include all applicable winter statutory holidays (four in total), savings would amount to $846,004,” staff’s report said. “Both figures are reflected in 2024 dollars.”
However, staff caution that should council decide to eliminate statutory holiday snow services, crews might have to restart plowing from square one for priority one and two routes, which would delaying clearing of priority three routes by 48 hours.
It also might cause snow to become compacted, making it more difficult to clear. It could also worsen sidewalk accessibility.
If rain accompanies these snowfalls, it could make conditions more hazardous.
The report also notes that these savings are contingent on snow events happening on stat holidays — no snowfall, no savings.
The council meeting, which was rescheduled from April 28 to avoid conflicting with the federal election, starts at 6 p.m. on the second floor of Prince George City Hall.
