GREENFIELD — For the people in charge of removing it, 9 inches of snow is expensive.
Officials with the city and county said the snowstorm that hit the region last week came with a big price tag, but they don’t expect it to set their budgets back.
Hancock County engineer Gary Pool said he expects the county highway department’s expenses for the storm on Feb. 14-15 to come to around $120,000, which is typical for a large storm. The bulk of that expense comes from salt used to treat the roads; the department received a delivery of 900 extra tons from an order placed after the storm started when supplies ran low. Fortunately, Pool said, unused salt can be kept and used next winter if isn’t used up before then.
Pool said the department tries to be conservative with the use of salt, which is an expensive commodity.
“At $100 per ton, that’s not something you can waste,” he said.
He said the highway department also spends more money than many other counties do on dealing with snow. Pool said that clearing the streets after snowstorms is a high priority for the county government, including hiring a contractor to clear residential streets in unincorporated areas of the county.
Greenfield street commissioner Tyler Rankins said a 24-hour deployment of snow trucks typically costs the city about $10,000. The storm last week totaled about 36 hours, for a cost of $15,000. Rankins said the department budgets for a few big storms a year, so funding is already set aside.
“It’s not going to impact us as far as not being able to do something else later in the year,” he said.
The city also stocked up on salt after the storm, receiving a shipment on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
“We never want to run low,” Rankins said.
Finding extra salt during and after the storm was a concern for both the city and the county, as it was for street departments across the state. Both receive their salt from the same supplier, Cargill Inc.
Pool said it was difficult for the company to make deliveries during the storm, both because of the condition of streets and because of the high demand from numerous local governments. However, he said, governments that typically make large salt purchases were able to leverage their existing relationship with the company to secure deliveries during the storm. That’s what Hancock County was able to do.
It was more difficult for Greenfield to reach the salt supplier, Rankins said. The city, which makes smaller salt purchases, only heard back from Cargill Inc. the week after the storm.
Daniel Sullivan, a spokesman for Cargill, said salt orders are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Now that the storm is over, more work is to be done. Pool said the highway department is already working to repair a number of potholes left after the storm and deep freeze. It will take some time to fill all the potholes, he said, but residents should feel free to report potholes and crumbling pavement to the highway department.
The Hancock County Highway Department and Greenfield Street Department are preparing to launch their pothole-repair campaigns to fix damage from the winter freeze-thaw. Motorists are welcome to report potholes they see while driving, although officials ask that individuals not make repeated calls about the same problem.
For potholes on city streets, call 317-477-4380.
For potholes on county roads, call 317-477-1130.
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Heavy snowfall comes with heavy price tag - Greenfield Daily Reporter
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