Season’s First Storm Takes A Big Bite Out Of Snow Removal Budget

By Kaaren Valenta

Winter will not officially be here until December 22, but already Mother Nature has put a big dent in the town’s snow removal budget.

Public Works Director Fred Hurley said the storm cost the town $80,187 in sand, salt, and overtime, about a third of the $255,000 budgeted for those items for the winter.

“The normal overtime budget is $105,000 so we’ve already spent 46 percent of it,” he said. “We used 1,584 yards of sand, at a cost of $15,494, or 17 percent of the $90,000 sand budget.”

Mr Hurley said the town road crews also used 414 tons of salt, costing $15,244 and amounting to 25 percent of the $60,000 that was budgeted.

“For this type of storm, you hit it at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the storm, unlike an ice storm where you have to keep at it the entire time because more ice keeps occurring,” he said.

The storm began on Friday night and continued through Saturday, but even on Sunday the crews were out because of the blowing snow. All of the hours were overtime, Mr Hurley pointed out, because the highway department crews had already worked a full week..

“We figure it costs $1,200 an hour for overtime, and Sunday is double time,” he said, “but the real cost to the town is even more, because Park and Rec and Board of Education employees also were working to clear their parking lots. Custodians come in to shovel the sidewalks. The real cost to the town for the storm is probably well over $100,000.”

Mr Hurley said the department calculated that the storm dumped 14 to 15 inches of snow in many parts of town.

“Certain parts of town always get more than others,” he said, “but what made a difference was the blowing wind.”

The road crews worked hard to clear the high school parking lot before 7 am on Saturday because SAT tests were scheduled. “They really put out an effort,’ Mr Hurley said. “Then we heard, almost accidentally, on the radio that the tests were canceled. Nobody called us.”

Then the crews made a special effort to clear the lot for the planned craft show on Sunday. One hour after they finished, that event was canceled. It has been rescheduled for this Saturday.

Mr Hurley foresees a busy winter, like last year when the first snowfall came the day before Thanksgiving.

“We’re going to be spending more money this year because the snow started so early,” he said. “That’s just the way it is some years.”

There were eight minor weather-related traffic accidents during the storm, according to Newtown police.

Police issued a reminder to residents that a town ordinance prohibits vehicle parking on local roads from sunset to sunrise from November 15 to March 15 because of winter plowing, salting, and sanding. The owners of vehicles that are towed from the streets to permit snowplowing will be ticketed. Costs to motorists include the parking ticket, a towing charge, and a vehicle storage charge.