Bend resident Greg Gulbrandsen shovels the berm of snow left at the end of his driveway by snowplows on Tuesday. In the past, private crews often scooped out the areas around driveways, but with a tighter budget, city officials said they don’t have money for the added courtesy this year.

As snow, wind and cold temperatures settled in on Central Oregon earlier this week, the phones at the city of Bend started ringing off the hook.

Some callers had concerns about particular streets that hadn’t yet been cleared or questions about when the plows would come through. But most of the dozens of residents who phoned in were upset about one thing: When the plows cleared their streets, they left behind piles of snow at the foot of their driveways — a change from previous years.

Hardy Hanson, Bend’s Street Division manager, said the city used to pay private crews to double back after plowing a street and scoop out around residents’ driveways. But he said the practice was a courtesy, not a part of the city’s official snow removal plan. And now, with the city facing a tight budget and dwindling reserve funds, Hanson said there’s just no money left to pay for the extra work.

Over the past year, the slowing economy has forced the city to make three rounds of cuts, which has resulted in layoffs and smaller operating budgets for many departments.

‘It’s your snow’

Hanson said the city budgets about $50,000 for private contract plowing during each snow event, like the system that has blanketed the area over the past few days. But if crews have to go back to scoop out driveway areas, Hanson said the cost goes up to between $70,000 and $100,000.

“(Residents who have called to complain) say things like ‘It’s your snow, get it out of my driveway,’” Hanson said. “Their driveway is their access to the public road, and it’s a public safety concern. We all have to pitch in.”

Bend uses city plows to clear and spread traction material on the busiest streets, but hires private contractors to plow residential streets when there’s more than 6 inches of snow. This year, Hanson said the city has set aside a total of $340,000 for traction materials and contract plowing work.

Officials in other cities around the area said they don’t have specific rules on the books about clearing private driveway entrances.

Redmond Public Works Director Chris Doty said crews move the snow that gets piled up around driveways when they have time or the snow lets up, but it’s not a regular practice.

“When the snow falls, it’s all about priorities and getting the most out of the resources we have,” he said. “We would only clear driveways if the weather permitted us the ability to do that.”

Like Bend, Doty said Redmond is dealing with limited resources and tries to focus on clearing the areas that affect the most people.

“Every dollar we spend on snow removal basically comes from our pavement budget and contingencies, so we try to be cognisant and balance public safety versus spending money that could be prioritized for something that will have a longer return on the investment for the taxpayer. A (pavement) overlay lasts 15 to 20 years, and snow removal lasts 15 to 20 days.”

In Prineville, Public Works Superintendent Jerry Brummer said the city held off on plowing until Tuesday, when crews headed out to clear the roads — but not driveway entrances.

“Downtown, we plow to the middle (of the street) and for the rest of it we plow to the outside,” Brummer said. “We try to break as many (driveway piles) as we can. But probably most of the driveways will not get cleaned out.”

Trying to keep up

Average snowfall in Bend for the month of December is 9 inches, but so far, the city has already received more than 8 inches, according to meteorologists at National Weather Service in Pendleton.

Hanson said the crews have been working to clear streets in Bend for the last 10 days and will keep working through the holidays.

He said the city has used up most of the cinder traction material it had left from last winter and has switched almost entirely to basalt, which he said creates less dust.

“We’re geared up and we have crews scheduled for Christmas,” Hanson said “We will have some people out, but we have to be able to sustain our response — we’ll have crews for emergency response so we can keep the streets clear and open.”