The Word on the Snow Budget
Next week, we may or may not be hit with the biggest snowstorm of the year, but at tonight's Public Works Committee meeting, DPW superintendent Rob Perry reported some facts about the City's current situation vis-à-vis snow.
During our most recent snowstorm, Pax, it had been forecast that between 10 and 14 inches of snow would fall. In fact, there were nearly 20 inches of snow, and 12 inches of it fell in the early hours of Friday morning, February 14.
Looking ahead to future snows, during the end of this winter and the beginning of the next, here's the situation. In the 2014 budget, about $104,000 was budgeted for the things required by snow emergencies--overtime, salt, etc. To date, $60,000 has been spent. That leaves only about $44,000 for the remainder of this winter--which could go on for a bit--and the start of next winter--November and December 2014.
And then there's salt. It seems we have only enough salt left for four to maybe eight more winter storms, depending on the severity and duration. According to Perry, the last three salt deliveries were a third short. The reason given: "The pile is almost gone." Spring can't come soon enough.
COPYRIGHT 2014 CAROLE OSTERINK
Writing from a tropical beach where it is presently 81 degrees, it seems winter may be just a bit over- rated. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThis picture is worth a few words:
ReplyDelete1) One walk has the snow removed all the way past the curb and the other is not. When the bank is removed it's removed completely and passenger side doors can open.
2) The street sweeper doesn't run during a snow emergency so DPW should always plow to the even (north) curb so when they (finally) get around to removing the bank, the sun will have passively reduced its size...
Update: We are not getting hit with the biggest snowstorm of the year. 3 inches maybe, as it turns out. The storm, such as it is, is being pushed southward by a Canadian high. PS: It was never going to be the biggest storm of the year--that was pure hype.
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