City council won't be reviewing the suspension of windrow clearing as suggested in the final report of the core services review.
On Friday afternoon, the select committee on a core services review reviewed and passed on less than half of the 38 recommended opportunities for savings or revenue to the committee of the whole.
The committee, which consists of the mayor and all eight councillors, meets Nov. 14 to discuss which of those recommendations will be forwarded to a formal council meeting for endorsement.
Some of the remaining opportunities will be dealt with at a later date, or will first be investigated by another body, such as the finance and audit committee. Others were dismissed outright.
KPMG's core services review leader Brian Bourns indicated that Prince George has a higher level of service for winter road maintenance than other winter cities.
The report recommended establishing a fee for the service with the exemption of the homes of the elderly and disabled.
"Cities such as Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Winnipeg and Edmonton do not remove the snow windrows across driveways that are created when the city plows the road," the draft final report says. The suggested annual revenue or savings potential could be anywhere between $250,000 and $500,000, according to KPMG.
But Coun. Murry Krause referred to correspondence he's received from residents just this week in support of the service and select committee member Coun. Cameron Stolz moved to keep the recommendation from going any further.
"Even though there's an opportunity to save money, council understands, being a northern community, snow removal is exceptionally important and if anything we need to find even more money for snow removal to be able to continue with that level of service or even improve it," Stolz said.
"I'm pleased there's no appetite to take that way from the citizens," said Everitt. "I think it's a benefit to our seniors and to everybody else that wants to get up and get out of their driveways."
In terms of winter road maintenance, committee of the whole will be discussing an adjustment of the service level of snow removal at civic facilities versus that done on city streets. According to the report, this adjustment could save $20,000 per year.
"[Regarding] the fact that our city parking lots and facilities are better than our streets, I've had many emails about that over the last four years," said Stolz. "I think it's a valid complaint and that's one we should definitely be pursuing on the 14th."
The current rationale is that the city is more liable for injury due to a fall at a city-owned facility, which Bourns disagreed with.
"It's hard to make the argument why it should be different," he said.
