Yakima has plowed through its budget for snow removal

The city of Yakima has spent a whopping $300,000 this year on snow removal – that’s tens of thousands of dollars more than what was budgeted.

The city has exceeded its $10,000 budget for private contractors who clear residential streets by $140,000. It’s spent another $150,000 on snow melt, sand and other materials – $15,000 more than what was planned.

And winter isn’t over.

Mother Nature’s unpredictability is one of the main problems city officials encounter when trying to set a budget for snow cleanup, said city spokesman Randy Beehler.

“You can control what you spend on groceries, but it’s not like you’re suddenly going to go out and have five meals in a week at Gasperetti’s. Using that example, we don’t know if we’re randomly going to have to eat there five nights in a row,” he said.

In other words: The budget for snow removal is more of an estimate than a set figure.

When it keeps snowing, city staff first look to reserves, and if that’s not enough to cover unexpected snow removal costs, they start evaluating what other projects could be cut to make up the difference. But the city hasn’t reached that point – yet.

Belt tightening – just like with residents’ personal budgets – could be in the future and with it possible hard choices, Beehler said.