Saskatoon to repay 2023 snow clearing bill over 10 years

It’s going to take a long time for the City of Saskatoon to pay off its snow clearing bill.

According to Clae Hack, the city’s chief financial officer, it’s going to take 10 years.

Two storms last December piled 34 centimetres of snow onto the city, which had already received about 55 centimetres of snow in October and November.

In response, the city activated its Roadways Emergency Response Plan for Extreme or Unusual Events with the goal of clearing snow from every street in the city. The plan took about two months to complete, and came with a big price tag.

During Wednesday’s Governance and Priorities Committee meeting, Hack told councillors the bill added up to just over $18 million.

“Approximately $1.97 million of this response was experienced in 2022, while the remainder of the work, or $16 million, was completed in 2023,” he said.

To fund the response, Hack said $5 million from the city’s 2024-2035 Major Capital Funding Plan will be allocated to cover part of the bill.

“And the remaining cost of just over $13 million will be repaid through the directed phase-in of $805,700 in 2024 and 2025,” he added.

After that, Hack said the city will pay $1.6 million back each year, at 4.08 per cent interest. The money will come from an internal loan, much like the $3.5 million the city plans to internally borrow for its updated garbage bin program.

The city’s plan is also to put aside $161,000 in both 2024 and 2025 for future emergency snow events.

City Council still has to give its final approval to the repayment plan.