Snow removal costs strain Calgary roads budget

The City of Calgary'sroads department will likely have to dip into reserve funds to pay for snow removal in 2013.

Thanks to a record snowfall during the month ofDecember, the city says it anticipates spending much more than the budgeted amount of $34 million.

• December snowfall breaks 112-year record
• Calgarians parked on snow routes forced to dig out vehicles
• Snow clearing in northeast Calgary criticized

The bills are still coming in, but the city says its will likely dip into its $7 million reserve fund.

Carissa Vecio, from the city's roads department, says crews have removed 98,000 tonnes of snow from Calgary's streets already this winter.

"If we were to pile all of this snow on the ice of the Saddledome, it would cover the ice five times higher than the Saddledome."

Snow removal costs for the remainder of the winter will come from thedepartment's annual budget for 2014.

The largeamount of snow is wearing down some Calgarians.

Jerret Rysdyk has to shovel snow at his home and at the strip mall where his business is located.

"I got up at5:30this morning and was doing my house, now I'm over here doing the sidewalks for my contract. I wasn't shovelling this much snow last yearat this time.As a matter of fact, there wasn't any," said the owner ofLux Laundromat.

Rysdyk says city plows are doing an OK job.

"Busier streets are kept clear, which is what I expect from the city," he said.

"The back streets are a mess, but I'm actually originally from Edmonton, so I'm used to that."