Snow piles up, budgets sink down
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

A Westminster Highway Department employee cleans up after the first storm in 2008. Members of local highway departments have clocked many hours cleaning up from Mother Nature during this winter season as record amounts of snow keeps falling. JOURNAL PHOTO/JEFFREY W. BOUDREAU

As the snow has piled up on the streets, the snow and ice removal budgets in Ashburnham and Westminster have disappeared into many overtime hours, and salt and sand to cover the streets.

On Monday the area was hit with another major snowstorm, and as the week progressed three to six inches of snow was predicted for today. The National Weather Service said the entire area was above the average snowfall totals for this point in the winter, with the 8.5 inches received in Ashburnham and Westminster on Monday securing the records.

Westminster Department of Public Works approached Selectmen on Wednesday, after press time, for permission to deficit spend, according to Town Coordinator Karen Murphy.

Murphy said although she didn't have exact budget numbers on Wednesday morning from the DPW and the town accountant, she said that it was the overtime DPW Director William Winturri was the most concerned about.

In Ashburnham, the Department of Public Works used up the last of their budgeted money on during the storm on Jan. 1, said Director Don Ouellette. The $15,000 to $20,000 spent to clean up from the storm on Jan. 14 but the town in the deficit column.

Ouellette said although he hadn't specifically calculated the cost of the most recent storm, most of the money was spent paying the employees for their hours on the job.

During Monday's storm, a small crew was called in to report at 4 a.m. to start on the roads, and the rest of crew was called into report once there was two or three inches on the ground, Ouellette said. He said this is the typical protocol used by the department when storms are expected.

"It's not just the storms, it's the icing over of the roads, etcetera, that add into the budget," Ouellette said.

He said some of the calls come from the Police Department if they encounter or receive reports of slick roads. Ouellette said it depends on the report to determine how many people get called out to handle the situation.

He said the other costs of the storms were paying some of the contract plows, the salt, the sand and the fuel for the trucks.

The salt and sand were bought on a contract at the beginning of the year, said Ouellette, and are set up so deliveries are made throughout the winter season. The cost increases over last year's contract for salt and sand were minimal, he said.

"Most of the increases is trucking," Ouellette said of the cost of running his own trucks and the delivery costs of the sand and salt.

In Worcester a total of 36.5 inches of snow have been measured by the National Weather Service, which is more than the average of 24.3 inches. Last year as of Jan. 14 the city only 30 miles south had received 1.1 inches of snow.

The National Weather Service considers the snow season for Massachusetts to be between Oct. 1 and the end of April, with the snowiest months being December, January and February.

Westminster voters appropriated $51,000 for labor in the snow and ice removal budget and $292,600 in the supply line item.

This is the first time since 2005 that the budget is this tight, she said. Murphy said the town tries to appropriate the money the town will actually spend.

"It's a matter that it catches up with you soon or later," she said.

Some years, the town will supplement the money for the snow-and-ice budget during special town meetings in the winter, she said. Murphy said she it is unclear if town officials will look to use some of the free cash this year to do just that during a special town meeting they plan to hold in February.

The Selectmen were expected to address some of these issues during their Wednesday meeting, which was held after press time.

The Ashburnham DPW started the year with a $140,000 snow-and-ice removal budget.