Harsh winter hits OT budgets
ZANESVILLE – With the recent warm weather, it's easy to put memories of the harsh winter to the side. But while the ...
Harsh winter hits OT budgets ZANESVILLE – With the recent warm weather, it's easy to put memories of the harsh winter to the side. But while the ... Check out this story on zanesvilletimesrecorder.com: http://ohne.ws/1kq7uH6
Anna Rumer, arumer@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com Published 5:00 p.m. ET April 14, 2014
A City of Zanesville snow plow heads out to plow and spread salt around the city during a January snow storm. The city used salt conservatively this winter, and has some left over for next year.(Photo: Times Recorder file photo, Times Recorder file photo)Buy Photo
ZANESVILLE – With the recent warm weather, it's easy to put memories of the harsh winter to the side. But while the winter worries may be winding down for most people, the city and county continue to deal with budgetary concerns stemming from the weather.
One area of concern for the city was overtime hours. The city's streets and sanitation department had an initial budget of $20,000 for yearly overtime hours, $11,500 of which has already been spent trying to clear the streets of snow and ice.
If overtime hours are not cut back, the city is projected to go over budget by $2,000, a total which will be paid from the city's general fund. Public Service Director Chip Saunders is doing his best to make sure these hours are reduced, however, reducing the projected overage by $10,000 since last month through the "feathering" out of hours and projects.
"I don't know if we'll be able to get back into budget," he said. "But the numbers are getting better."
Despite the possible overage, Saunders commended his department's handling of the winter. Oftentimes, he said, the assistance of the parks and recreation, water maintenance, wastewater/sewage management, and building maintenance departments was needed in order to plow the accumulated snow from the streets.
"That's not typical," Saunders said. "It just becomes more than the streets department alone can handle. Everyone has to band together and that just becomes our focus."
Salt conservation was another area in which Saunders felt the city succeeded, remaining within its state contract and even having some allotted salt left over.
The city's state contract requires the purchase between 80 and 120 percent of the estimated amount of salt needed every year. The city originally purchased 2,550 tons of salt for the winter, the same amount as was purchased last year. Saunders said it was just enough to keep the city running through the snowy winter.
"We were very conservative about our salt," he said. "We figured out where we just needed to plow and where salt was needed."
Because of this, the city ended the winter still able to purchase an additional 450 tons of salt from the state. The extra salt will be stockpiled by the city until next winter. This is expected to save the city money, because Saunders is fairly certain that salt prices will be raised during the bidding season for next year.
Muskingum County had greater problems when it came to salting county roads. In order to keep within the 5,852 tons of salt they are allowed in its contract, the Muskingum County Engineer's Office had to get creative when conserving salt, utilizing 18,197 tons of cinders, 5,663 tons of sand and 251,800 gallons of salt water throughout the winter.
"We knew that we had to conserve materials based on the weather forecast models and past experiences," said County Engineer Doug Davis. "We began conservation at the right time and at the right rate. The inclement weather also came to an end at the right time."
Overtime has also been a problem for the county. At this point, the county is already $1,931 over the $60,000 designated for the year's overtime. This, in addition to an increase in fuel and equipment maintenance costs, Davis said, may have an adverse effect on the upcoming spring.
"We will continue to service county roads the best we can with what we have," Davis said. "It is our goal that the public will not see a decrease in service. However, projects will be prioritized more stringently and reevaluated frequently. With the number of inclement weather events and the long durations, as well as the days spent restocking materials, less road maintenance was accomplished ... We ask for the public's continued patience."
arumer@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com
Twitter: @AnnaRumerZTR
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