Less snow means less money in Regina’s winter maintenance budget

Snowstorms can be a frustration for drivers every winter and a big expense for the City of Regina.

But recent winters haven’t been quite as expensive and that has changed how the city puts together its winter budget.

Chris Warren is the director of roadways and transportation with the City of Regina. He said as part of its review of the winter maintenance policy, the city took a look at weather patterns from the past 10 years.

Warren said the data shows snowfall amounts in Regina have been dropping over those 10 years.

“We are experiencing more freeze-thaw cycles and higher-than-average temperatures as opposed to large volumes of snow,” explained Warren.

So, where the city had been budgeting every year for five major snow events triggering a systematic plow and then having a surplus in the budget at the end of the year (an estimated $500,000 surplus for 2020), this year it’s budgeting for four.

Warren said city officials are expecting a total cost savings of about $1.2 million.

If there is a situation where there is another snow event or more money is needed, Warren said the money to pay for it will come out of the winter maintenance reserve.

The savings for winter road maintenance in the city’s proposed 2021 budget account for some of the $5 million in savings and efficiencies found — and that’s part of the reason the city operations portion of the budget didn’t increase at all.

As part of the new policy, Warren said there were some other changes proposed.

“There’s possible enhancements coming to that policy including reprioritizing bike lanes, transit routes and schools to have a higher priority when it comes to winter maintenance activities, enhancing clearing around schools (and) enhancing clearing around transit stops,” said Warren.

He said the city also looking at a bylaw which would require all property owners to clear their sidewalks in the winter months.

The entire proposed budget still needs to be approved by Regina’s city council. Those discussions are to start Wednesday.