Communities tally costs of snowstorm

Less salt is used during a snowstorm than for a 1-inch snowfall, a street commissioner said.
VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT
Clearing roads during and after one of the biggest snowstorms in decades can prove to be challenging -- and costly to some.
Mahoning County spent 61,000 between Tuesday and Thursday afternoons on overtime and materials. Of that amount, 37,000 was for 790 tons of salt and 530 tons of slag, said county Engineer Richard Marsico.
The engineer's office is responsible for maintaining 1,300 lane miles of county roads in the townships.
"That's a long drive," Marsico quipped.
The National Weather Service reports 9.9 inches of snow fell in the Mahoning Valley on Tuesday and 4 inches Wednesday. Between noon on both days, close to 13 inches of snow fell, the second most in a 24-hour period during the past 40 years.
Youngstown's costs
The cost of plowing roads between 7 a.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Thursday in Youngstown was 12,500. The city is responsible for maintaining 550 lane miles.
Of that amount, 5,000 went toward salt and slag, said Joseph Mastropietro, the city's street superintendent.
"The reason for that is we didn't use a lot of material except on the freeways and the hills," he said. "It snowed so hard the material wouldn't work. We put down very little" initially.
The focus for the Youngstown street department was the main streets, freeways and busy intersections, Mastropietro said. That meant other streets in the city weren't plowed until Wednesday or Thursday.
"They were real bad," Mastropietro said of the side streets before they were plowed. "But we got to all of them at least once. Then we went back to the main streets to get the snow off and widen them. It will be a few more days before we're done."
Overtime costs were low because the city has full snow-removal shifts except between 3 and 11 p.m.
"The overtime needed on the other shifts was minimal," Mastropietro said.
Boardman spent more than 28,828 in overtime and material costs from Tuesday morning through Wednesday clearing the 144 miles -- 288 lane miles -- of township roads, said Lawrence Wilson, road superintendent.
In Trumbull County
Trumbull County used 1,200 tons of a salt mix, which cost the county 24,000, said Chris Connelly, the county's highway supervisor.
Each of 35 drivers and mechanics have worked about 35 hours of overtime so far this week, said Jim DiCenso, Trumbull County Engineer's payroll and equipment supervisor. That works out to around 20,000. With more snow in the forecast for later this week, the total could rise, he noted.
Dave Harrison, Lordstown street commissioner, said the village used far less salt than was budgeted for the year during the storm. Harrison said the village appropriated funds to buy 2,000 tons of salt and has used only 900 tons to this point.
Less salt is actually used in a snowstorm than for a 1-inch snowfall, he explained: During a storm, trucks only plow the roads and salt isn't spread until the roads are cleared -- after the storm. But during a 1-inch snowfall, salt is continuously spread.
Don Wittman, Cortland service director, estimates the city tallied between 3,500 and 5,000 for labor, salt and fuel. "The storm is not going to break our budget," Wittman said.
Sam Villio, Niles street superintendent, hasn't been able to put a number on the cost. He noted, however, that not much salt was used because most of the time the trucks were plowing. An added cost was the replacement of cutting edges on the plows.
Columbiana County
In Columbiana County, officials haven't finished totaling the amount of overtime pay due the workers and the dollar amount of the salt.
Paul Parks, superintendent for the Columbiana County Engineer's Office, said the cost isn't that important since making sure the roads are clear is the goal. "Whatever it costs, it costs," he said.
He said he had just bought 30,000 tons of salt "like it was nothing."
Columbiana County mixes two-thirds salt with one-third limestone. One truck will spread 700 pounds per mile in just one lane.
Joe Julian, Salem's service director, estimated his workers totaled 6,500 in overtime from the storm. His records for the winter of 2005-06 show the department had 16,240 in overtime.
Salem uses two-thirds salt, one-third ash. For the 2005-06 season, the department spent about 77,655 on material, including 50,000 on salt.