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03/14/2018 12:00 AMWith winter storms continuing to affect the Tri-Town area, the snow removal budgets for all three towns are reaching their limits. With the cost of sand and salt, fleets of trucks, and salary for the crews, there is a lot to consider when financing the town cleanup of winter storms.
“Any amount of snow we get, we always have to respond, regardless of the budget,” said Essex First Selectman Norman Needleman. “We always budget for an average winter and if we spend less that’s good, if we spend more, we have a rainy day fund for that.”
With extensive damage to trees and powerlines during the March 8 nor’easter, residents sought shelter, heat, food, and charging stations at John Winthrop Middle School.
“It is being partially funded by the three towns. Every town has an emergency budget and that’s where we draw on for much of this,” Chester Selectman Charlene Janecek said.
Essex’s highway personnel, according to the budget request for fiscal year 2017-2018, is responsible for 44 miles of road, sidewalks, parking lots, and related paved areas in town. Despite the town’s best efforts, Essex has already exceeded its $20,000 budget for this year’s snow removal.
“We have a number of budget lines so yes, we probably will see the highway budget go over but we could see other areas under budget,” Essex’s Finance Department Director Kelly Sterner said. “It is not a cause for concern because we believe overall, the total selectman’s budget will come in within budget.”
Essex allocated $20,000 for plowing and sanding, $20,000 for sand and salt, and $10,000 for maintenance equipment, according to its budget request for the fiscal year of 2017-’18. This budget also requested “500 hours of snow storms, call-outs, and other needed time outside regular work.”
Sterner praised the hard work of the town crews during this busy winter season.
“The guys work hard and we try to absorb some of that within the budget, but a year like this, with a big storm, we’ve had to call contractors and bucket trucks to come in and literally move the snow into a truck, and truck it off,” she said.
“That runs the tab up, but obviously what’s more important is public safety, so they do budget money in contingence, but if the budget goes more than $20,000 over we have to go to town hall for a meeting to discuss that overage.”
It’s been a challenging winter for local crews and in Chester, Janecek said townspeople have been supportive of the efforts by all towns to keep the roads safe.
“We give credit to the residents of Chester, they’re bearing up really well and have not had many complaints. I think they completely understand that we are doing our best,” she said.
In regards to the multiple crews that have been heading the winter maintenance, Janecek said “everybody is holding up pretty good, we’re working in shifts” and there are “multiple crews working on multiple areas.”
According to its website, the town of Chester breaks its total winter maintenance budget of $129,600 into six sections: outside contractor ($65,000), sand/salt ($35,000), overtime payroll ($23,000), equipment maintenance ($5,500), meal allowance ($600), and supplies ($500).
“As far as I know we’re not in bad shape with our winter maintenance. Yes, we’ve used a lot of it over the course of the last two weeks and we probably are running close,” Janecek said.
Chester’s Public Works foreman John Divis added that a statement on the snow plow budget in Chester would be reserved “until we get a better handle on what’s happening with this last storm,” referencing winter weather warnings for late March.
According to Deep River’s Board of Finance Chair George Eckenroth, the town does not “have a snow plow budget. All snow plowing costs are included in our highway department budget. We build the highway budget based on known adjustments to the prior year’s budget.”
With that in mind, the town is still reaching the top of what is budgeted for the Highway Department. Deep River Treasurer Tom Lindner said that of the $12,500 set aside for contingency/storms, prior to the March 8 storm, there was $1,428 left to spend.
Deep River First Selectman Angus L. McDonald, Jr., said officials always keep an eyes on the budget and he thinks they are still in good shape. He also said that the crews were continuing to work hard to keep up with this winter’s storms.
Deep River Selectman Duane Gates expressed a concern with Deep River’s fleet of trucks, saying that the older trucks have caused problems which have affected the budget this winter season.