MAHONING COUNTY

MAHONING COUNTY
Engineer Richard Marsico said his department has ordered more road salt and aggregate mixture for this winter than it normally does.
"We got caught short last year," Marsico said. "We never ran out, but there for a while, it was day by day."
Marsico said the county has historically bought about 8,000 tons of salt and 4,000 tons of aggregate, which is a mixture of gravel and cinders. The aggregate is mixed with salt to make it go farther.
Marsico said the county used between 13,000 and 14,000 tons of salt last year, and has enough left over to get through one snowstorm this winter. He's ordered 12,000 tons of salt and 5,000 tons of ice-control aggregate for this year, and expects part of it to be delivered this week.
"With the way this weather has been, we're planning to get ready for winter a littler earlier than usual," he said.
YOUNGSTOWN
Joseph Mastropietro, city street superintendent, hopes any heavy snow waits until after December. The city spent all year conserving the overtime budget because so much was used so early to clear snow, he said.
The department spent about 70 percent of its 2003 overtime budget of $220,000 as of March, said Carmen Conglose Jr., deputy director of public works. The city usually spends between 30 percent and 50 percent of its overtime in that period, he said.
The city also incurred higher-than-expected overtime expenses after a tornado blew through the East Side and flooding hit the area this summer. The federal government may reimburse the city for those costs, which will come in handy.
If snow removal drains the remaining overtime budget, cuts will be needed to other street-related work or city services to pay it, Conglose said.
"There's not much we can do about it but switch priorities," Conglose said. "It's going to come at the expense of something else."
The city recently bought more road salt so there is enough to last through year's end, too. The cost to keep the needed salt supply, however, was $115,000 more than budgeted, Mastropietro said.
CAMPBELL
Especially severe winters, like the one last year, only happen once in a while. That's what the city is banking on.
"Last year was one of the really hard winters you get once every 10 years, so we will base our budget for snow removal on the winter before that," said Mayor Jack Dill.
"We were quite a bit over what we budgeted last year" because of the severe winter, he said. But because the price of salt has remained stable and it is unlikely this winter will be as bad as last, Dill said, Campbell will not increase its budget for snow and ice removal.
Costs exceeding what was budgeted for snow removal last year came out of the city's general fund, money that would have been used for other things, Dill said. "It sure hurt us. At that time we had people laid off -- they'd been laid off in October -- and we didn't bring them back until July. We may not have brought them back sooner, but that money might have helped," he said.
STRUTHERS
Sometimes, the best way to head off disaster is to prepare for the worst. After last winter, which, by the end of January had depleted the $40,000 city officials had budgeted for snow removal, officials increased the budget for this winter and ordered salt and slag early.
To keep the roads clear last year, the city was forced to come up with about $20,000 more than what was budgeted for salt, slag and overtime pay for workers in the street department, said Mayor Dan Mamula.
That additional expenditure pushed back a plan to install new lighting in city hall because, Mamula said, the money had to come from somewhere.
So, to avoid the need to cut or curtail projects planned for next year, officials increased the snow-removal budget for this year to $50,000. Not quite what the city spent last year, but more than what had been budgeted.
"It's very hard to predict these things," the mayor said, "but we always manage to handle it."
AUSTINTOWN
Bumpy roads may take a back seat to slippery streets if this winter is anything like the last, said Mike Dockry, township administrator.
"We have a standard operating procedure. The police notice the roads getting slippery and they notify dispatch and then they call people out for ice and snow control," Dockry explained. "Whatever that costs, that's what it costs us."
During a normal winter, the township uses 1,500 to 2,500 tons of salt, he said; last winter the township bought about 4,200 tons. As a result, fewer dollars remained in the general fund for things such as road repairs.
"We didn't even have a summer resurfacing program this year," Dockry said.
To keep ahead of the snow this year, Austintown has already bought 2,900 tons of salt, which Dockry hopes will last through January and maybe longer.
POLAND TOWNSHIP
Road superintendent Ed Beach said the township has about 250 tons of salt in stock and enough money set aside to buy additional salt as needed.
The township has joined the state purchasing program and will spend $26.74 per ton for salt this season, compared with the $29.06 per ton spent on salt last season.
POLAND VILLAGE
Road Superintendent Russell Beatty said the village has reserved a couple hundred tons of salt and there is money set aside to purchase more as needed.
Beatty said he does not see any problems getting through the winter, but "the department's budget is tight, so we will be using material and resources as sparingly as possible."
BOARDMAN
Township Trustee Tom Costello said the township has purchased salt for the winter at a cost of $33 per ton.
Costello said the township has a salt dome and can therefore stockpile enough salt to meet the needs of the township. "I feel we are in good shape to handle whatever the winter may throw at us," he said.
CANFIELD CITY
Expenditures for snow removal this winter here are likely to be lower than last year, even if the snow piles up just as high.
Last winter, the city's snow-removal budget was changed because about halfway through the season it was evident that the money was going to run out, said Chuck Tieche, city manager. "So we added to it."
As a result, there was enough reserve left in that fund to buy road salt for the beginning of this winter, Tieche continued. Given that the price of road salt has dropped, it's unlikely that it will cost as much this year to keep the roads clear even if this winter is as severe as last winter.
CANFIELD TOWNSHIP
With a larger fleet of trucks and a stockpile of salt, the township is ready for whatever fury Old Man Winter can muster. The new salt truck arrived Wednesday, the first in a plan to buy one new truck every three years, said Bill Reese, trustee chairman.
"As we have acquired more roads, largely the result of new residential development, we've discovered a need for another truck," Reese said.
Under the truck replacement plan, the township will buy one new vehicle every three years and retire the oldest one in the fleet, the trustee said.
Construction of a new dome that can store up to 2,400 tons of road salt was completed this spring, Reese said. It will allow the township to save money by taking advantage of low salt prices.
Last year, the township used more than 2,000 tons of salt. Because the township ordered its salt early, it was locked into a price of about $29 per ton, Reese said. As the weather got worse, prices for road salt rose to $36 a ton, he said.
This year, the price is lower than it's been in years -- $26.74 per ton, Reese said. So, the township ordered 1,500 tons and may buy another 750, he said.
TRUMBULL COUNTY
With two new plow trucks in the fleet of 25 and 2,000 pounds of leftover salt, officials at the Trumbull County Engineer's Department say they are ready for winter.
Between the twin expenses of overtime and salt, the price for keeping 462 miles of county road clear during a normal winter is about $600,000, Road Superintendent Chris Connelly said. For a particularly bad winter, like last year's, the tab can top $1 million, he said.
In any case, the department's roughly $8 million-a-year budget is enough money to handle it, he said.
This year, the engineer postponed the purchase of a grading machine to cover the extra snow-removal expense. If winter hits hard again this year, officials could postpone other equipment purchases or change next year's paving schedule, Connelly said.
LIBERTY
Last winter's heavy snowfalls took a toll on the township, both in man-hours and in equipment.
Tim Monroe, road superintendent, said crews worked 66 hours of overtime between November 2002 and March of this year on snow removal. The extra hours meant trustees paid $16,395 to cover the extra salaries.
Added to that figure, Monroe said, was the $41,397 paid for the 1,530 tons of ice control material used.
In anticipation of this winter, two new snowplows were bought and delivered, Monroe said.
Also, he noted, the township will buy between 700 and 800 tons of salt within the next week for stockpiling in the salt storage building. Once the salt is delivered, Liberty will have about 1,200 tons on hand, Monroe said.
NILES
Auditor Neil A. Buccino said the city has always made it a habit to anticipate the worst.
"Then, if it does happen, we're OK, and if it doesn't, that money just goes back into the department's unencumbered funds," he said.
Last year's heavy snows didn't really tax the street department's budget too much, he said, noting that money for overtime and extra salt and slag is routinely budgeted each year.
Starting in November, the city will look at what was spent on snow removal and overtime this year, and budget accordingly for next year, he added.
WARREN
Operations Director Frank Tempesta said the department has budgeted for 3,500 tons of salt for this year.
During last winter's heavy snow and cold, the department went through 4,000 tons. The cost is $32.32 per ton, through state purchasing from Morton Salt in Grand River, Ohio, near Painesville.
The department is preparing its overtime budget request for 2004. The account exceeded its allotment for 2003 because of the winter snow and summer flooding.
"It snowed almost every weekend and every holiday," Tempesta said. That causes crews to be called out on overtime.
"We'll probably have seven or eight trucks on the road at one time," Tempesta said.
Three more will be ordered after city council approved bond refinancing to buy new equipment for several departments, but those trucks aren't expected to arrive until March or April, he said.
CORTLAND
Officials say they will be ready when the snow flies.
"Our salt has been ordered, our service department is staffed, and we will have the same level of snow removal as we had in the past," said Mayor Melissa Long.
Six city employees have commercial driver's licenses. The city uses three large trucks and two smaller trucks to clear snow. Long said there is enough money to take care of whatever winter brings.
HUBBARD
"I hope it doesn't snow on Halloween," city Auditor Michael Villano said tongue-in-cheek.
A long winter that begins later this month and continues into next March could be "economically catastrophic" on the city's fiscal program, he said.
The city paid $24,876 in overtime last winter to the street department and $20,000 for salt and ice-control mixture to keep the streets clear.
The $44,876 "beat us up," Villano said, but not as significantly as if the winter weather had continued.
He said the heavy snow fell last December, January and February. If it had continued into March it would have become "problematic," Villano explained.
The same amount spent on snow removal in 2003 has been allocated for next year, the auditor said, but cautioned that it may not remain the same with a new administration taking office in January.
"We're running tight," Villano said of the city's fiscal position. "We're just keeping our fingers crossed this year."
GIRARD
Despite the city's financial dilemma, Mayor James J. Melfi said the city is prepared for winter.
In 2002, the city appropriated $343,000 and the same amount this year for street department operations. Of the total, $65,000 was spent on overtime, salt and fuel to push the snow off the streets and melt the ice during the 2002-03 winter.
The department receives its money from the gasoline tax, license fee and state highway taxes. It's a shortage in the general fund that thrust the city into fiscal emergency.
Melfi explained that in addition to snow removal this year, $127,000 has been used for street resurfacing and other funds transferred to the general fund to support the police and fire departments.
"We should be OK," Melfi said. "The street [department] fund should never be in jeopardy."
HOWLAND
Howland Township Administrator Darlene St. George said she is concerned that a hard winter could again drive up the bill for snow removal and salt.
"Your concern is how much it is going to cost you and what it can do to your budget, but we are prepared for it."
Last year, the township spent $43,000 more than usual for salt and overtime costs because of the heavy snows.
The township has 13 full-time employees on staff who can help remove snow, the equipment is ready and salt has been ordered, she said.
"We will do what we have to do to make sure all roads are passable and safe," she said.

COLUMBIANA COUNTY
The county is all set to start plowing and salting roads, said Bob Durbin, assistant Columbiana County engineer.
Durbin said the county has about 250 tons of salt remaining from a purchase made in early spring. He noted that the county engineer department bought 800 tons of salt at about $32 a ton to deal with the '02-03 winter. That's twice what's normally purchased, Durbin said.
The department has money in the budget to handle staff, fuel and repair costs associated with keeping roads clear this winter, Durbin said.
SALEM
The bitter winter of 2002-03 left the city about $18,000 short of what it needs to buy road salt to get it through this year, said Service Director Joe Julian.
"We used it all up last winter," Julian said of the nearly $40,000 budgeted for salt for 2003.
Julian said other winter-related expenses such as snowplow fuel and maintenance, and overtime for plow drivers were about twice what they normally are.
He added that he has enough to meet those costs through 2003, as long as the November and December weather isn't particularly harsh. If it is, Julian said he's going to have to ask council for funding help.
EAST PALESTINE
City Manager Gary Clark said the city ordered about the same amount of salt as last year, when they used just about all of it.
The purchases are based on averages from year-to-year use of salt, and they budget accordingly. They haven't had a problem yet in running out.
Both East Palestine and Columbiana buy salt from the Ohio Department of Transportation's purchasing program.
LAWRENCE COUNTY
NEW CASTLE
The city spent far more than the $60,000 budgeted for salt costs this year. About $162,000 was spent from January to April. That number balloons to about $250,000 with overtime and truck maintenance factored in, said Mayor Timothy Fulkerson.
But Fulkerson said he's not concerned about running out of money to buy more salt if the snow flies before the end of the year. The mayor said the city regularly stops paying its bills at the end of October and pays everything in January when the city's tax anticipation loan is taken out.
"We'll never run out of money, but it's a bad calculation. If you were a business, you could never do it that way," he said.
MERCER COUNTY
SHARON
It was late April before the city of Sharon paid off its last snow-removal bill from last winter.
The city had budgeted $140,000 for salt and related costs for the winter of 2003 but wound up spending $255,000. The city was forced to tap other general fund accounts to pay the bills, and city council approved the last $68,000 in payments in April.
Those numbers don't include the $15,000 in street department overtime it took to spread 6,000 tons of salt during the winter.
Things could be tight again this winter, said Michael Gasparich, city financial director, although Sharon has made some preparations based on predictions that it will be another snowy season.
The city has stockpiled 300 tons of salt and set aside an additional $10,000 from its general fund for snow-removal work. That should be enough to buy an additonal 330 tons of salt based on current prices, Gasparich said.
He's also working on the 2004 budget and said the plan is to allocate $180,000 for salt out of Sharon's state liquid fuels grant money. That comes from state taxes on gasoline that are given back to local municipalities for road-related work.
HERMITAGE
Things didn't get so bad in Hermitage. City Manager Gary Hinkson said the city had budgeted $200,000 for salt purchases in 2003 and has already spent $194,686, not leaving much cushion for the start of winter weather.
However, the city already has 3,000 tons of salt on hand that should get it through the end of this year, Hinkson said, adding that the 2004 budget will likely show another $200,000 earmarked for salt.
Hermitage also used liquid calcium chloride and budgeted $12,000 for that material in 2003. About $2,000 of that remains, Hinkson said, adding, "I think we're going to be fine."
FARRELL
The city went well over its overtime budget, said City Manager LaVon Saternow. The street department overtime budget was set at $13,000 but the city has spent $20,000 so far and 90 percent of that was for snow-removal work last winter, Saternow said. The additional money had to come out of other budget line items, she said.
The city budgeted $40,000 for snow and ice removal materials and has spent every dime already, she said.
Nevertheless, the city is prepared for snow before the end of the year and has a supply of about 50 tons of salt as well as quantities of anti-skid and calcium chloride on hand, said Gerald Multari, street department superintendent.