Trumbull engineer says this winter’s salt prices are a big drop

Staff report

BAZETTA

After a year in which the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office paid $105 per ton for road salt, this year’s price of $55.97 looks pretty good, said Jack Simon, an assistant to Engineer Randy Smith.

Although all the methods employed by the engineer’s office didn’t work out, one did: producing a price that is close to $5 per ton less than most other area counties, Simon said.

Smith secured 75 percent of the road salt to be used for a year by his office and two dozen Trumbull County townships and other communities that partner with the engineer’s office for $4.50 less than the price through the Ohio Department of Transportation.

He did this by ordering the county’s salt directly through Morton Salt Inc. of Chicago.

Most other area counties bought their salt through ODOT for $59.47 per ton, Simon said.

The Trumbull County commissioners approved the contract with Morton at Wednesday’s commissioners meeting at the Trumbull County Fair.

Simon estimated the lower salt price will save about $1 million over last year.

“There will be more money available for paving and other labor-intensive projects.” he said.

One method Smith explored that did not work out involved The Community University Education Purchasing Association Program, which secured salt at $49 per ton last year at the same time as Trumbull was paying $105.

Legal counsel said the option was not feasible, however, because the consortium is a nonprofit organization, and government entities cannot buy from nonprofit entities, Simon said.

Smith also looked into a Brecksville consortium, but that consortium decided against allowing Trumbull County to join because of the possibility the consortium would lose money delivering the salt that far, Simon said.