How much do you pay for snow shoveling?

I'm all for exploiting child labor to get my sidewalks shoveled, but according to The Waukesha Freeman's "I Have a Gripe" I may have to re-think my strategy.

The engineering department relies upon resident complaints to maintain safe sidewalks. Dale Evans of the Waukesha Engineering Department goes to the site and places a courtesy notice on the door. The notice explains the city sidewalk ordinance and allows the resident 12 hours to take care of the snow problem. If the resident does not respond, the city will remove the snow at the resident’s expense. The resident will see an increase in real estate taxes at a rate of 50 cents per foot of sidewalk shoveled.

“Once we remove the snow, usually the citizens don’t make the same mistake twice. That can get expensive,” said Joe DeLeon, street department supervisor for the public works department.

Fifty cents a foot? That's about what I pay the local rugrats, and I bet the city does a better job. Even better, I get deferred billing with the city. I might even be able to deduct the city charge. The little monsters not only demand cash, sometimes they have to use my shovel.

What does snow shoveling typically cost you?


Find classic movies at Amazon.com