This winter has already taken a toll on Reading’s finances.
The Department of Public Works’ plowing and ice management budget was $67,000 in the red on Tuesday—before the snow started falling on Wednesday.
“It hasn’t been the quantity, it’s been the quality,” said Department of Public Works director Jeff Zager—but he added that the quantity hasn’t helped.
Big storms, he said, can take as much as a week to clean up. After the initial plowing, his department has to deal with clearing sidewalks, cutting down the snow banks at intersections and repairing broken equipment, and when big storms fall about a week apart, it makes it hard for his men to catch up.
In Reading’s downtown area, the department sometimes has to load the snow into trucks and cart it away because there’s no safe place to leave it. That alone, he said, can cost $8-10,000 per storm.
Smaller storms also tax the town's resources, Zager said, as he needs to send out crews to sand and salt the roads to maintain safe driving conditions.
“It seems like every other day you get a dusting or an inch or a couple of inches,” he said. “It’ been a long winter already."
Zager said he considers the plowing season over around the first of April. Until then, he and his men will continue to make public safety their number-one priority.
And, in these tough fiscal times, the cost of that safety will keep adding up.
“Think Spring,” Zager said.
The Cost of Snow
| Category | Cost this winter* |
| Wages | $6,917.94 |
| Overtime Wages | $85,595.55 |
| Plowing and Hauling | $236,398.75 |
| Police Details | $2,674.10 |
| Supplies/Equipment | $143,802.89 |
| Sand | $0 |
| Salt | $106,318.83 |
| Gasoline | $10,696.89 |
| Total | $592,404.95 |
*According to a printout from the town dated 10:14 a.m. Jan. 25
Rob
11:42 am on Sunday, February 17, 2013
Seriously - who's fault is it if they don't budget for 1 storm in the winter - we still have had below average total snow fall for the year, maybe they should learn to budget instead of using the theory of budgeting what it cost the year before (when we got 12 inches of snow all year). Then of course they are over budget - just stupid we could be over budget this year!
Seems since they are over budget they have decided to not plow much - been snowing for 5 hours already today - nothing is plowed and it is totally dangerous driving today, but people need to work, go to church etc and it isnt a storm, so now we seem to be putting saving money ahead of people's safety - management is just not cutting it this year!
M
12:09 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013
Our plowing/snow clearing is pitiful compared to North Reading. I had the chance this past week to do a lot of errands in N. Reading - amazed how well the sidewalks near schools & businesses are cleared. Route 62 all the way from 28 to the N. Reading high has a clear sidewalk - not a walking path, if lucky, like Reading schools, but fully cleared curbs, which means you can drop kids off safely without having to slam doors into or climb over a snow bank, or force them to exit streetside.