The city of Montreal is apparently scrambling to renew the permits for its fleet of snowblowers.

The city has 95 of them, and the Journal de Montréal reported that as of Tuesday morning, 84 of them don't have the special permits they need to move along the city's streets.

That means, had there been a major snow removal operation over the past few weeks in Montreal, any snowblower caught operating without a permit would have been subject to fines of up to $525.

The permit renewal process is a formality that's usually observed before the first major snowfall of the year, but on Tuesday, the city said the permit renewal process was complicated this year by the purchase of nearly three dozen new snow clearing vehicles.

A city spokesperson says it will get right on finalizing the renewals.