Snow removal costs for Sault businesses to decrease
SAULT STE. MARIE — The Sault City Commission has passed a resolution that will decrease the cost of snow removal for property owners in downtown Sault Ste. Marie.
Small businesses and other property owners in the downtown area are part of an ongoing contract with the city to cover the cost of snow removal on sidewalks and parking lots.
Snow removal can be a very important aspect of a small business in a town like Sault Ste. Marie, which gets more than 100 inches of snow in a winter season. For some businesses downtown, whether or not the sidewalks in front of their property are shoveled can have an impact on how well that business performs in the winter months.
Normally, the city hires a contractor, and then passes the cost of the contractor onto the property owners. This is different than the contract the city has to remove snow off of city-owned properties.
Because the contractor increased their costs this year, the contract ended and a new price was suggested to the Downtown Development Authority. This new proposed price could have increased the cost passed to each individual property owner by double in some cases.
More:Soo businesses are about to see an increase in snow removal costs
With this new cost increase, some businesses owners downtown are worried other businesses will stop paying for the service, leaving several stretches of sidewalk that could be left unplowed. This inconsistency of snow removal could have a negative impact on businesses, since people will be less encouraged to walk downtown.
Downtown properties said they still prefer to use the city contracts even with the price increase because the cost of individual contracts is too much for some businesses.
"I've talked to some business owners who said that if they were going to have to pay privately that it would actually cost them a lot more than the services that are being provided to them and using this service," said DDA Director Stephanie Sprecker.
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After the price increase was proposed, Sprecker heard feedback from downtown properties and began working on a solution. Sprecker began working on an option that would decrease the cost per linear foot and would include more downtown properties.
On Nov. 9, Sprecker presented her new option to the DDA board, an option which was accepted by the DDA. During the city commission meeting of Nov. 21, the commission also approved this option, increasing the cost that the city pays while decreasing the cost to property owners.
This new contract will be with the same company, Cardinal Construction, but now the city will pay $25,800 of the contract instead of $18,400 and the cost per linear foot will decrease from $3.15 to $1.65. The new option will be much cheaper for property owners because it also includes more properties in the plan. Over 90 properties in downtown Sault Ste. Marie will be involved in this contract.
"We're providing all of our business owners and property owners the services and at the most cost effective prices for them," said Sprecker. "I would like to really encourage all of our property owners to opt in so that we can continue providing these services at these prices."
— Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Snow removal costs for Sault businesses to decrease
