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Our Community, Our News
JANUARY 23, 2013
Vol. 5 No. 8
Hold the salt
Mild winter weather a mixed blessing for municipal coffers, park districts By Jonathan Samples and Laura Katauskas Staff Reporters
An absence of snow may have discouraged Chicago-area residents hoping for a white Christmas, but many municipalities are rejoicing the lack of effects this year’s mild winter has had on their bottom lines. The first half of the meteorological winter ended Jan. 14, according to the National Weather Service. For the second year in a row, the winter season has started out abnormally warm with below-average snowfall. However, these abnormal conditions have helped villages save money in a number of areas. One of those areas is overtime expense. Snow removal can eat up a large portion of a village’s budget for overtime work, according to Steve May, director of public works for the village of Westmont. With only one significant weather event so far this year, May says part of the budget is still mostly intact. Material use, such as salt application,
is another area where villages have seen savings. Most villages buy salt through Illinois’ Joint Purchasing Program. This second straight year of below-average snowfall and above-average temperatures has allowed villages to stockpile a large surplus of salt, resulting in some savings. Downers Grove and Westmont, which typically use 4,800 and 2,000 tons of salt a year, respectively, are well below those numbers so far this winter season. Downers Grove has used just 226 tons, and Westmont has used only 50 tons. “As of this date, we have mobilized our snow teams only four times,” said Stan Balicki, assistant director of public works for Downers Grove. Although this drastic reduction in salt use does not translate into an apples-toapples savings comparison, villages are placing smaller orders of salt for next year as a result. Jack Knight, deputy village clerk with the village of Woodridge, said the cost of salt has dropped from $75 per ton to $53 per ton. Additionally, Woodridge, like many villages, was able to purchase the minimum of 800 tons through the
Bugle File Photo
Scenes like these from the cleanup of the February 2011 blizzard that paralysed the Midwest have become a distant memory in the wake of unseasonably warm temperatures the past two years.
program. Savings in this area could range between tens of thousands and several hundred thousand, depending on the size of the municipality. However, Knight warns that there is still too much time left in the season to be overly optimistic about potential savings. “We don’t know what winter has in store for us, and we try nit to get in the business of predicting the future,” Knight said. “The biggest difference is we’ve had the opportunity to focus on those other projects.” Like Woodridge, most villages have taken advantage of the mild winter
conditions by getting a jump on spring maintenance. “The mild weather has actually allowed our public works crews to engage in other activities, such as pothole patching, draining problems, equipment repairs,” said Doug Kozlowski, communications director for the village of Downers Grove. Without any meaningful cold or snow so far this winter, it’s not just unusual, but record-breaking.The first day of the 201213 winter with a sub-freezing high was See SNOW NO, page 2