Ottawa snow removal crews cleared 63,000 truckloads this past November and December — enough to fill a dump-truck convoy stretching bumper-to-bumper from Ottawa to London, Ont., city staff reported Wednesday.

The two-month tally was more than crews cleared during all of last winter, John Manconi, director of the city's surface operations, told the city council's transportation committee.

With some winter months still to come, the cost of snow clearing and snow storage could continue to impose a big strain on budgets, he said.

"I think the key thing is you have two-thirds of winter left," Manconi said. "We're probably going to break some records this year."

Those records could come in the form of salt use and costly staff overtime.

"The melt that we had after the Christmas period helped us significantly," Manconi said. "I'm happy that our staff were able to get a very good rest last week for the first time in a month and a half. That was starting to be a major concern for us."

He added that record amounts of snow have already been moved into the city's snow disposal facilities, although there is still room for more.

Manconi thanked council for the close to $3 million of extra funding his department got this year but predicted he will be over his $62-million budget for 2007. He will have to see how his $64.8 million budget for 2008, which includes $9 million for snow removal, will fare, he said.

Following his report, Manconi was applauded for his department's snow removal efforts.

Then he faced complaints from the public and some city councillors, including Coun. Alex Cullen, who said he received a lot of complaints from seniors and disabled residents about imposing snowbanks in December that they had to or could not clamber over in order to reach the buses they were trying to catch.

Coun. Georges Bédard asked why it took so long to clear snow from the Vanier neighbourhood.

Questions also came up about property damaged by snowplows and the lack of co-ordination between the city and its contractors.

For example, there were complaints that bus shelters that had been cleared by contractors were blocked by snow pushed in by city plows.

In his defense, Manconi said that given unpredictable weather and strained budgets, snow removal is constantly evolving. There are no short-term solutions because there just aren't enough contractors to go around, he stressed.