Walking in Waterloo Region

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Mayor Dave's response is disappointing: 

Thanks for your input. Sidewalk clearing is regularly considered, and most recently in 2008 or so.  The costs are noticeably different than what a citizen guessed in the newspaper, and based on previous surveys, the desire from citizens for this service was relatively low.  And the timeliness expectation is quite high (‘by sunrise’).
We definitely will keep this in mind for the future and I do expect that one day, it will be a reality. 

I explicitly asked for the cost number. Perhaps "noticeably different" is close enough to the citizen's guess that the city doesn't want to tell us lest it drive up the demand.
Repeat after me Dave, "Nobody clears snow like The Bad Boy. Nooooo--body!"

Funny that he describes the $7-10 figure given by the City of Winnipeg as a "guess". Many other cities clear their sidewalks and do not report it as a heavy burden either.

I've done the math in the past: called a bobcat rental, computed fuel and wage costs, got average plowing speeds, etc. Here's the main outline: number of snow events a year on average: 62.2 days per year. A house needs to be plowed three times each of those days (overestimate), it takes 10 seconds to clear an average house (also an overestimate). The rental cost of a bobcat can be found on line and comes to about $5 per household (a city will likely get a better rate by renting for 6 months several units) wages at $5-15 and fuel costs at another $5 per household for a final tally of $15-25.

Compare that figure to your personal cost or the $200 charged by commercial snow plowing services.