Extraordinary provision of funds for winter road clearance services approved
At its meeting today, the City Council decided to allocate additional funds totalling 1.55 million euros for winter road maintenance in 2021.
The planned budget of 3.2 million euros for the annual winter road maintenance service carried out by the ASR has already been adjusted in recent years to meet increased demand due to the weather situation. According to the current calculations for 2021, there will be an additional requirement of 1.25 million euros.
Up to and including April 2021, there were 65 frost days, 26 of which were icy days. Snow fell on a total of 42 days during this period, 29 of which were well over one centimetre. January 2021 in particular was consistently deep winter well above the long-term average. The regular and often intense snowfall contributed to high service and consumption costs. In January alone, around 4,000 tonnes of road salt had to be spread on public roads.
Winter road maintenance also incurs other costs that cannot be influenced by the municipal winter road maintenance service and which also increase with increasing intensity. Rising fuel prices and replacement and wear part costs for repair and maintenance of the technology are typical examples of this.
An additional 300,000 euros are required for winter services as part of the management of city-owned properties (stairs, squares, pathways, etc.). These services are mainly provided on the basis of framework agreements with smaller companies.