Charlottetown angling for better snow-clearing equipment

The chair of Charlottetown's public works committee plans toaskfor more money for snow removal.

After two especially harsh winters, public works has gone over budget projections for the last two years.

Public works chair Terry Bernard saidthe city wants better equipment, especially to deal with snow removal in areas cleared by contractors.

Some city residents complained this year that the city took too long to remove the snow and that some contractors didn't have the right gear to do the job.

Bernard said the budget request in the past has been around $2.1million. He saidthis year public works will ask for $2.6 million.

"We're seeing the need to update the equipment and possibly get more equipment per area that's in the contract zones," said Bernard.

"So we are looking at bringing in newer equipment and possibly more equipment and heavier equipment to do the contract areas than what we currently have."

Bernard says the city wouldn't buy the new equipment, the contractors would supply it with the extra money from the city. Bernard saidthe city has to be prepared to handle higher amounts of snow. He is optimistic the increased funding will be approved.

The city budget is expected to be delivered at the end of the month.