Racine may have seen its last snowstorm for a while, but a snow fight is still looming for the City Council next week.

At issue is who should be responsible for clearing the snow just beyond the curb. Typically, as any Wisconsin resident can tell you, that's the plow row that piles up in all its icy glory after a winter snowstorm.

And it's kind of a no-man's-land, or at least a no-shoveler's land.

Under existing codes, the city is responsible for plowing the streets and the homeowner is responsible for clearing sidewalks. Property owners who don't get the job done within 24 hours of a storm are subject to an "inspection fee" of $70 or so. And if they wait too long and the city does the shoveling, they have to pay for that, too.

But the homeowners' responsibilities have always stopped at the curb line - or the end of the handicapped ramps.

Until now.

Under a proposed ordinance, the property owners of corner lots would have to clear the plow row as well - opening a path to access the street crosswalk. For some homeowners - those with snowblowers - that's not a particularly big deal. A few more passes with the blower and the way is clear. Many neighborly homeowners do that as a matter of course - and more than a few of them continue on their way to blow out the driveways and sidewalks of neighbors as well. It's one of the friendliest things about Wisconsin winters: people helping each other out in the aftermath of a big snowstorm.

But for others it is a big deal. Clearing a path by hand through a three-foot or four-foot high pile of slush-turned into ice can be a monumental chore for a shoveler.

It's one thing to have to clear your driveway and sidewalks, but does a homeowner really have to clear the city streets as well? And face a $50 "inspection fee" if he or she doesn't - or can't? That hardly seems right.

The city doesn't want the responsibility. City officials say they simply don't have enough workers to do it. Fine. In these days of tight budgets we doubt we'll see anyone proposing to add new staff and raise taxes to do this work. But neither should City Hall be looking to impress a nonvoluntary work force to do work that, arguably, is the city's responsibility.

Yes, an argument can be made that clearing a path through the plow rows would make winter life a lot easier and safer for children walking to and from school. The Wisconsin reality we know is that children often look to clamber up and down snowpiles and plow rows in the wake of a storm - and will do so whether there is a cleared path or not.

Barring an influx of snow-shoveling bailout funds (and we sincerely hope that is not coming), we would urge the City Council to draw the line at the curb, where it has been in the past, and not assign a new and potentially expensive chore to homeowners who already have corner lot sidewalks to clear.

Instead of the threat of fines, we will depend on the goodwill of neighbors who have taken on this chore in the past.