My thoughts on sidewalk snow clearing in advance of tomorrow's Committee of the Whole meeting. https://maggieburton.com/blog/posts/sidewalksnow

Of the six options staff provided, the most extensive is Option 6. It would have a one-time capital cost of $3.3 million: half of what we budgeted for the Mews Centre replacement, or one twentieth of what we budgeted for the Convention Centre.

If we had to increase taxes to pay for the operation of our sidewalks at Option 6 level, it would represent a <1% increase to the mill rate. It would be one third of what we spend on St. John’s Sports and Entertainment every year.

2/3 of respondents of the City's consultations on snow clearing on sidewalks were willing to pay increased taxes in order to improve the current state of affairs. 2/3 of people do not want status quo. Improvements have a financial cost; but it has to be viewed in context.

It is simply not true that we cannot afford better sidewalks. It is a question of priorities. It is true that we have a difficult road ahead to recover from Covid and other budgetary challenges, and we have to have a balanced budget each year. But services still matter.