Snow removal costs pile up for cities, counties

By Joe Chapman, Herald staff writer

Nothing clears snow off the roads like warm temperatures and rain.

If only it always was that cheap.

The Tri-Cities and Benton and Franklin counties spent thousands of dollars plowing snow and clearing roads for the past two weeks. It was a big year-end expense out of snow-removal budgets that already took a hit when heavier-than-normal snowfall needed clearing in January.

But city and county officials say they'll spend whatever it takes to do the job. And even though most of their snow removal budgets went over this year, they're not anticipating the expenditures to break their banks.

"Our No. 1 primary focus is safety. And it beats No. 2 by magnitudes," said Ross Dunfee, public works director for Benton County.

Snow and ice removal involves several main costs: Materials (chemical de-icer and sand), equipment (plows, dump trucks and road graders) and labor (normal and overtime).

This year, Benton County planned to spend $247,000 on snow removal, but Dunfee last week projected it likely will end up having spent about $180,000 more than that. The county should be able to cover the added expense with about $250,000 the public works department has at its disposal for emergencies such as snow and floods, he said.

Next year Benton County is budgeting $325,000 for snow removal.

Pasco officials sounded a similar note of "plow at all costs."

"Get in front and stay in front -- and don't worry about spending a few extra bucks," City Manager Gary Crutchfield said, explaining the philosophy for snow removal that he shares with Bob Alberts, his public works director.

Each year, Pasco allocates $10,000 for snow and ice removal, but that figure is just a place holder in the budget that Crutchfield has no qualms about adjusting as needed, he said. The city also has a contract with Scott's Excavating Inc. for additional help when needed.

Crutchfield and Alberts didn't have precise estimates of what the city has spent on snow removal this year. But after the snowfall in January and February alone, the city had spent just less than $30,000, Alberts said.

Crutchfield said whatever the bottom line for 2008 snow removal turns out to be, it will be less than the city's $100,000 increase in annual fuel cost, by comparison. If the snow removal cost is more than the street fund can cover on its own, the city would use reserve money in the general fund, he said.

Richland also didn't have calculations of its snow removal costs for this year. But if there's an overrun when the year-end accounts are realized early next year, the city will cover it by dipping into its reserves, said Pete Rogalsky, public works director.

Kennewick, which operates on a two-year budget, is about $60,000 over the $130,000 it budgeted for snow removal. The city will compensate for that overrun by shifting funds from other street department budgets that underspent, said Gary Deardorff, maintenance operations manager for Kennewick.

He expected to have enough money in those budgets because when street crews are doing snow and ice removal, they're not doing other functions that cost money, he said.

In Franklin County, Public Works Director Tim Fife expected the county to be 50 percent to 60 percent over its snow removal budget by the time all of this year's costs are calculated.

The county budgeted $120,000 this year, and before December's snow, it already was 20 percent over, he said.

Anticipating the extra expense, the county freed up some cash by cutting back on other maintenance projects throughout the year, such as widening and re-graveling some roads.

Next year, the county is budgeting $150,000 for snow and ice removal and another $40,000 for cleaning up the roads in the spring.

Although the counties may spend a little more on snow and ice removal than the cities, Alberts theorized that's because they have to approach the task somewhat differently. In the cities, the main concern is to increase traction at intersections to keep cars from smacking into each other, he said.

For a county rural road, crews have to clear the entire length of the pavement to keep cars from sliding into the ditches on the side, he said.

But whatever the cities and counties spent removing snow this year, the good news for all of them is that come Thursday, when the new year arrives, they start over with new budgets -- fresh as the fallen snow.

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Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008

Snow removal costs pile up for cities, counties

By Joe Chapman, Herald staff writer