Yes, DeeJay, that's right, we are fined if the snow is not cleared in an timely manner. Within 24 hours following a snow event, I believe is how the city ordinance reads. Also, they say the "public" owns the sidewalks, but the property owner adjacent to the sidewalk is responsible for its upkeep and maintenance. So basically, the public, who owns the sidewalk in the first place, gets to sue the property owner for any calamity the befalls them while walking down your piece of the sidewalk. Stupid.
It has worked a different way over here with no legal duty to clear public paths outside ones property. If one does so out of a sense of public spiritedness, there have been suggestions that one could be sued if someone slipped and fell because the job was not good enough.
We have to pay the water companies to dispose of the rainfall that falls in the street outside our homes... Now that is stupid!