Pothole damage claims down
The City of Saskatoon doled out more than $95,000 last year to cover the costs of repairing vehicles damaged by driving through potholes or other sections of rough road, such as utility cuts.
Under the provincial Cities Act, municipalities must keep their streets “in a reasonable state of repair” and are liable for damages if they don’t perform this duty and knew, or should have known, that the roadway in question was in disrepair.
Private drivers and Saskatchewan Government Insurance made 269 claims against the city in 2016, alleging the city’s failure to properly maintain roads resulted in vehicle damage.
The city was found liable for more than a third of those claims and paid out $95,584 to cover 96 of them.
Those numbers are down from 2015, which was the peak year for the city being found liable for vehicle damage claims related to potholes. That year, 431 claims were made against the city. The city was found liable in 159 of them and paid out $139,609.
Angela Gardiner, the city’s director of transportation, said early numbers from 2017 suggest fewer claims will be made against the city this year.
“The trend is clearly showing that, since 2015, we have a reduced number of claims issued toward the city and a reduced number paid out,” she said.
She attributes the change to increased spending on road maintenance. The city introduced a road repair levy in 2014 to increase the amount of money spent to pave roads, fix potholes and generally keep streets and sidewalks in good working order. That levy was one of the major drivers behind property tax increases over the last three years.
This year, the city will spend nearly $62 million on road maintenance — nearly double what it spent in 2013, before the road levy was introduced.
The improvements have also been noted in the city’s annual civic survey. Last year, 32 per cent of the 500 people who were reached in a telephone survey said roads were among the city’s top issues, down from 36 per cent in 2013.
“The intent of the dedicated road levy was to improve our roadway network, and we’re seeing that,” Gardiner said.