The City of Hamilton looks at the costs of plowing sidewalks

$5 million, that’s how much it would cost the City of Hamilton to take responsibility for clearing snow from all sidewalks.

The report is set to go before council Thursday for further discussion. The report is actually a culmination of several reports on the idea of city-wide sidewalk clearing going back years.

2048 kilometres is how much sidewalk Hamiltonians are responsible for shovelling when there’s a snowfall. Right now, the city only takes care of 400 km, which includes municipally-owned property, Ancaster and sidewalks adjacent to school property.

In order for the plan to work, the city estimates they would need 81 additional pieces of sidewalk clearing equipment and that equipment would have a price tag of $486,000, which is already factored into the $5 million.

“We do need further clarification of these numbers, but our calculation was about $24 to $30 a household per year.” Maureen Wilson, city councillor.

The report also looks at other municipalities that have city-wide sidewalk snow removal . like Burlington, which maintains 1900 km of roads and 850 km of sidewalk. Their operating total is $700 000, far less than Hamilton’s estimate, but Hamilton is also three times the size in population.

Councillor Wilson also says there are gaps in the report that need to be addressed before anything moves forward.