The Town of Olds has spent more than twice of what's budgeted to rent trucks for snow removal this winter.According to Norm McInnis, Olds' chief administrative officer, the town has already spent more than $190,000 this year for the rental of trucks to haul snow. The budget was $80,000.He said the town is dipping into reserves to pay for the overage. That could result in a tax increase during spring adjustments to the budget.“That could have a bearing on adjusting that budget that was approved in December. We'll be bringing forward a recommendation that we do actually have a tax increase to … putting some money back in the snow reserve,” he said.This year, crews have been kept busy by heavy storms during December and January.“It really was extraordinary. It just seemed to keep coming and coming,” McInnis said.“Over this last weekend here, we had a look at the forecast. The residential roads are a little gnarly right now but we decided that we knew it was going to get warm here and we hoped we could get away without spending a bunch of money.”Olds pays for things like sand, salt and equipment like graders, loaders, BobCats and trucks, McInnis said.Those resources are part of the town's general operating budget, not specifically for snow, he added.In 2013, removal efforts in November and December accounted for the bulk of the town's snow removal costs.To hire contractors to assist with the job, Olds spent $201,400. The total cost of contractors in 2013 was $276,050.During those two months in 2013, the staff overtime bill came out to $17,710.Additional fuel cost $15,340.The total cost of snow removal during November and December 2013 was $234,[email protected]
