Grand Rapids residents have paid the city nearly $27,000 in snow removal fines since January 2025, according to internal city documents acquired by The Grand Rapids Herald.
A section included in Grand Rapids’ municipal code requires property owners to clear their sidewalks of snow and ice within 24 hours of “the accumulation or placement of snow or ice on said sidewalks.” If snow remains after 48 hours, the city is allowed to remove it at the owner’s expense, provided it provides notices to residents beforehand.
“The cost of snow and/or ice removal shall be determined based upon the bids received for said removal by the City,” the section reads. “All costs and fees assessed pursuant to this subsection shall be a personal debt owed to the City by the occupant(s) or owner(s) of the property and may be assessed as a lien against the property until paid.”
In January, the city temporarily suspended enforcement of this ordinance after reporting it received about 60 complaints of uncleared sidewalks per day.
A document procured by The Herald through the Freedom of Information Act reveals the city collected $26,882 in forced snow removal fees since January 2025. The City Commission’s fiscal year 2026 fee schedule lists forced snow removal as costing $95 per sidewalk, though each of the reported fees collected exceed that amount.
The highest single snow removal job included in the report was $1,443 for an address that matches listings for the City of Pentecost Church. The second-highest job, costing $733, belonged to an apartment building near downtown.
Neither of the owners responded to a request for comment from The Herald.
Tim Vandentoorn, owner of Grand Rapids-based property management company United Properties, told The Herald he believes the city’s fine places an undue burden on families.
“Although we didn’t get any fines this year for snow removal, I think the City grossly over-charges for snow removal,” he wrote via email. “Especially considering most families live paycheck to paycheck, the City’s $250.00 charge to shovel, salt, and remove snow from a sidewalk is not market rate, not to mention the fine they add to it; it is predatory and unfair to those unable to clear the walkways according to the City’s requirements.”
Despite these fees, Mayor David LaGrand is calling on city residents to do more to clean up after snow falls. In a video shared to Facebook last month, Mayor LaGrand encouraged citizens to follow his example by adopting an intersection where a “lump” of heavy snow tends to accumulate at crosswalks in the wake of city snowplows.
“I’m figuring I should always do things first if I’m going to ask other people to do them,” he said. “Look around your block and look at ways that intersections for pedestrians functionally get messed up by plow activity. You can fix that with a shovel and some time if you’re physically fit enough to do it.”
The findings come amid a slightly above average winter in Grand Rapids. The National Weather Service reports that the city has seen 74.7 total inches of snowfall since October 1, 2025.