Last week’s record-breaking snowfall likely surpassed the city of Bend’s annual budget for contracted snow removal.

Bend has yet to receive invoices from the private companies that plowed residential roads Monday through Thursday, but David Abbas, the city’s streets and operations director, said he expects those sums to be between $300,000 and $350,000. The city earmarked $250,000 for contractors.

“It’s more than what we planned or intended to spend,” Abbas said.

The light 2017-18 winter is helping, as is the relatively mild winter before February’s storms. In 2016-17, a series of heavy storms dumped nearly 60 inches of snow on the city, and Bend spent nearly four times its $185,000 budget for contracted snow removal.

The city increased its winter budget in advance of the 2017-18 winter, but plows sat idle and piles of sand untouched. The $250,000 for contractors is included in an annual $500,000 that includes purchasing sand and grading rocks, Abbas said.

“We might be all right as far as not having to get into contingencies or reserves,” Abbas said.

More than 25 inches of snow fell over three days last week, bringing total February snowfall in Bend to an unprecedented 30 inches. The previous monthly record was 23.3 inches in February 1917.

Because of how close the two snowstorms were to each other and how much snow fell, the contractors called in to plow residential streets started over on their routes immediately after finishing a first pass of the roads Tuesday evening.

When the city works on its budget for the next two years later this spring, it won’t be planning for snowstorms like this February’s or winters like 2016-17, Abbas said.

“We don’t build our budgets around abnormal storms,” Abbas said. “We build them around the average.”

— Reporter: 541-633-2160; jshumway@bendbulletin.com