Although the Westlock area has received a fair amount of snow this winter, it has not been enough to put undue pressure on the town, county and Village of Clyde’s snow clearing budgets.
All three municipalities operate on budget years that run from January until December, so any snow the area has received in January would have virtually no impact on their respective budgets.
However, even the snow that fell late last year did not cause any municipality to go over budget.
“We haven’t had a real significant, severe snowstorm yet,” said county public works director Dennis Mueller.
Since the snow started falling, he said his crews have been out regularly, making sure the roads are kept in good condition.
Mueller also said the county tends to set aside enough money for a typical winter.
“We usually budget enough money to allow for those two big snowstorms a year, plus our normal winter maintenance,” he said. “It really hammers our budget when we end up with three or four big snow events throughout the year because it takes a lot of resources to clear those away.”
Out in Clyde, interim CAO Annette Schwab said councillors haven’t yet passed the 2013 budget, so the village will be able to take into account any snow that’s fallen since Jan. 1 to ensure enough money is available.
“We budget so much money for snow removal every year,” adding if there is an extra heavy snowfall in a year, the village has to find ways to clear it.
In any event, she said the village has had no trouble covering the cost of clearing its roads. Until the 2013 budget is passed, she said the village is operating on its 2012 budget. Doing so provides flexibility to deal with what nature brings.
“When we have a bunch of snow, we need to move it,” Schwab said. “We have the money in the budget to do it.”
In town, public works director Don Hamilton said this year’s snowfall has not had too much of an impact on clearing the streets.
“It’s not an out-of-the-ordinary year for us,” he said. “This is basically normal.”
His crews have been busy moving snow this winter, but with the snowfalls being relatively small ones that simply accumulate, it’s been smooth sailing.
“When you get 60 centimetres (in one event), that’s out of the ordinary,” he said.
With the budget year starting Jan. 1, Hamilton said things are perfectly fine for 2013. Looking back at 2012, he said he doesn’t think the town went over budget, but he won’t know until later this month when the 2012 budget year is closed.
