With a lot more winter ahead of us, residents in Saskatoon can expect the same level of service they're used to getting upset about.

"In our current level of service, we don't have a residential clearing program, but if we have a situation where ruts are six inches or greater we will do a rut shaving," said Mike Gutek, general manager of infrastructure with the city.

On John Gormley Live this morning, Gutek explained what Saskatoon's snow removal budget looks like.

As of February 1st, transit users will be paying a little more to get around town after the city raised prices for tickets and monthly passes.

Adult, student and child pre-paid tickets are going up 10 cents with adult tickets now at $2.30, while monthly passes will cost an additional three dollars for adults and two dollars for students.

Exact cash fares you pay while boarding the bus will remain the same after last year’s increase.

Overall, this year’s jump marks a fare increase of 3.2 per cent.

Saskatoon's pet owners need to understand off-leash recreation areas need to be maintained by those who use them.

"We need to do a better job educating people on their responsibilities in the overall use of parks," said Cary Humphrey, leisure services branch manager with the City of Saskatoon.

It was during a council meeting in 2012 when Ward 2 councillor Pat Lorje but in a request to review the city's policy on off-leash parks. The administration came back noting that 90 per cent of the people who use these off-leash parks don't know the rules.

The cold weather is causing garbage pick up delays in Saskatoon for a second day in a row.

"We ask that residents just leave their carts out for collection as per usual until such time as our trucks can arrive to empty the carts," said Burc Greack, manager of waste stream management.

Residential waste collection for Route 7 has been postponed for today.

That includes Lawson Heights, Lawson Heights suburban centre, North Park, Richmond Heights, River Heights and Silverwood Heights.

The extreme temperatures affect the hydraulic systems on the garbage trucks.

The City of Saskatoon is warning drivers and resident’s in the Grosvenor Park area to watch out for constructions crews as they repair the city’s latest water main break at Cumberland Avenue and 14th Street.

The area was completely blocked off Wednesday afternoon as water gushed into the street. There was a foot of water on the road. Much of it was starting to freeze.

Contrary to popular belief however, water main breaks don’t always happen in light of freezing cold temperatures.

Once again the City of Saskatoon has earned the highest credit rating possible from the international bond agency Standard and Poor’s.

“We are AAA-stable,” said Mayor Don Atchison.

“It’s really good news when you consider the fact that the banks yesterday received a downgrade.”

Going green isn’t going out of style as the City of Saskatoon looks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at 15 civic facilities.

The administration and finance committee agreed to spend close to $110,000 to install new utility monitoring equipment. Right now many civic facilities don’t have monitoring systems and often facility managers are surprised when they’re hit with a large utility bill.

Jeff Jorgensen with the city’s utilities department said this will help those managers keep track of the building’s usage and budget accordingly.

The debate about putting "Merry Christmas" on buses in Saskatoon is alive and well.

"Saskatoon is currently coming into a very big demographic shift with an influx of a large amount of immigrants," said Becky Sasakamoose-Kuffner, race relations committee chair with the City of Saskatoon.

"We want to be an inclusive and welcoming city and perhaps that may be inhibited by displaying simply Christmas messages."

The committee went on a retreat to Wanuskewin, where they talked about city council's recommendation on the issue.

It will be another month before city council decides on the parameters for an upgraded parking system.

General Manager of infrastructure services Mike Gutek, said his department is planning to put out an Expression of Interest (EOI) as the city hopes to canvass the industry for parking solutions.

Gutek said the EOI is something they’ve used in the past when they know they want something fixed, but aren’t sure what that solutions looks like.

The administration and finance commitee want to avoid any confusion when it comes to what the city is spending on its roads.

On Monday, the committee put forth a recommendation to city council to create a roadways infrastructure reserve and transfer $8.8 million from the existing infrastructure surface reserve.

“It’s to ensure we can track the funds specifically for roadways,” said Marlys Bilanski, general manager of corporate services.