“Just about every expense is going up…” Byron Brown talks cost of snow clearing

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown sat down with News 4’s Jacquie Walker Friday to discuss the snow Buffalo has seen this winter and other issues around town.

A major winter storm last month brought several feet of snow to various regions in the city. $6.6 million were spent on snow removal in January 2024.

“What we’re seeing now is, usually we would get 50, 60 inches of snowfall in Buffalo over a two, three month period of time. Now we might be getting 50, 60 inches in a week, in two weeks so that is very expensive,” Brown said.

Brown claimed the high volume of snow was expensive because of the need to lift and transport the snow elsewhere. It also costs more to plow the main roads, secondary roads, and residential roads simultaneously.

“[More snow] requires the hiring of private contractors and that is just one additional expense that is going up in the city of Buffalo and actually in many other places. Just about every expense is going up and that does have budget implications,” said Brown. “We did save money but we spent more than we saved.”

During this month’s Ask the Mayor, Brown also discussed the upcoming Saint Patrick’s Day parade. He urged viewers to stay safe and prepared and assured them there would be an “enhanced police presence” at the parade following the mass shooting at the Chief’s Super Bowl parade last month.

Watch the full segment above.

Kayleigh Hunter-Gasperini joined the News 4 team in 2024 is a Digital Video Producer. She is a graduate of Chatham University.

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