Here's what it cost to keep Aurora safe in the winter

Yorkregion.com
March 29, 2019
Teresa Latchford

Even though spring is just around the corner, the Town of Aurora is planning for next winter.

It takes a lot of planning and budgeting to ensure municipal roads and sidewalks are safe for residents during the winter months, according to Acting Roads Manager Jim Tree said. The winter maintenance budget is one of the trickiest budgets to estimate since it can be difficult to predict due to variable winter conditions.

When determining the budget needed for the year ahead, the town looks back at the previous year and expenditures from the past three years. It is not an exact science but if the town falls short, there is a reserve to help cover costs.

“It’s all related to the weather and the number and type of winter weather events,” he said. “Seldom are there two winters alike and the amount of de-icing salt and plowing varies from year to year.”

As of February, the Town of Aurora has recorded 58 winter weather events for 2018-19, more than the 51 events recorded in 2017-18 and the 50 documented in 2016-17.

Winter maintenance, including salaries and benefits, cost the town a total of $1.2 million this winter. Despite more winter weather events this year, the town spent more in previous years: $1.7 million last year, $1.5 million in the winter of 2016-17, $1.3 million in the winter of 2015-16 and $1.4 million in 2014-15.

The town owns seven combination plow and salt vehicles that with an additional four that are contracted out, service 220 kilometres of roads on 11 plow routes. Six contracted sidewalk plows service 231 km along six routes.

“Substantial planning and organization is critical in ensuring that the required resources are consistently available and at the ready to be deployed within minutes of the start of a winter weather event,” Tree said. “Staff scheduling to provide 24/7 coverage is crucial.”

Round-the-clock winter road and sidewalk patrol is deployed from November through March and eyes are on the ground at all times monitoring conditions.

Monitoring is key and twice daily the town receives weather reports providing information on precipitation, accumulation, pavement temperature and more, which is used to plan for an upcoming winter weather event.

GPS technology is used to track equipment and provide a real-time account and history of the level of service provided on each and every snow route. According to Tree, this is valuable information on a number of fronts including verification that maintenance was provided at an exact point in time in the event the municipality is legally challenged to defend itself.

Fleet management is a large component of winter maintenance due and the fleet goes through a comprehensive service and maintenance program during the summer months to ensure they are ready come winter.

“Winter is very taxing on equipment and it’s not uncommon to experience frequent equipment breakdowns and the town’s mechanics must be on 24/7 call at all times,” he added. “These are a few of the highlights of the issues that we deal with every day during the winter season.”