Spring is here and the book is closed on the winter of 2017. City Council, last night, approved an appropriation request from the DPW to fund their snow and ice removal account. The appropriation of $790,361.38 will come from the City’s “free cash” account.
Mayor Richard Kos described the budget for snow and ice removal as a “moving target” as winter weather varies from year to year. Instead, the City budgets $100,000 for snow and ice removal each year and then funds the remaining deficit in the spring once the final summary of costs is calculated. This year final costs came in at $890,361.38. A break down is provided below.
FY2017 Snow and Ice Removal
| Costs
|
Private Plowing Contracts
| $250,901.42
|
DPW Overtime
| $157,283.29
|
Salt
| $466,523.07
|
Sand
| $4,738.40
|
De-Icer
| $10,915.20
|
TOTAL
| $890,361.38
|
Snow and ice removal costs are relative to the number of events requiring a response. Majority of the costs came from the purchase of salt as the DPW tries to be proactive in treating city roads ahead of storms or freezing temperatures. The DPW made the move to straight salt for treating roads thus limiting the need for sand which needs to be picked up and disposed of once the snow melts.
In FY2016, final snow and ice removal costs were $466,511.06, and in FY 2015 costs were $1.2million.
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