A mild winter has created a salt surplus for municipalities.
Before every winter, municipalities are forced to play the guessing game of ordering salt months before the snow and ice hit. Many base an order on what road crews used the year before.
Last year, that strategy left municipalities scrambling for salt. This year, that strategy likely means most municipalities will have leftover salt for next winter.
Most of Pennsylvania’s boroughs and municipalities order road salt through the state’s COSTARS program, which allows them to purchase materials at a set price — $73.04 per ton this year — without having to solicit bids. Through the program, municipalities must buy at least 60 percent, and can buy up to 140 percent, of their initial order.
These limits apply no matter the weather. The unseasonable warmth has been a relief for many boroughs, though at least one faces the rare problem of too much salt and more on the way.
A tale of two winters
The contrast between this winter and the last is stark, said Dunmore public works Foreman Michael Judge.
“Last winter, I used more salt than I ever used. It was brutal,” he said. “This winter is the mildest ever that I can remember.”
Like many municipal public works managers, the foreman recalled having trouble acquiring enough road salt because of last winter’s relentless snowfall last year. The borough bought 614.58 tons of salt for October through late January.
The impact to the overtime budget has also been significant for the borough. Dunmore paid out $12,224 in snow removal-related overtime from December 2014 through January 2015 compared to $8,258 from December 2015 through January 2016.
Despite that, Mr. Judge almost sounded disappointed by the weather — in part because he wouldn’t mind having some more overtime hours available for his crews and also because his seven-truck fleet is in the best shape of his tenure at a time when there’s been little to plow.
“Some years, I was praying the trucks would keep running,” Mr. Judge said.
There are similar reports across the region.
“It’s actually boring,” Covington Twp. Supervisor Thomas Yerke joked. The township ordered 200 tons of salt and only used 15 tons so far. “We’ve only had one storm.”
Of the 100 tons Taylor ordered in early December to start the season, Taylor borough manager Dan Zeleniak said the two storms the borough has contended with only depleted about 20 percent of the borough’s salt supply.
“Last year at this time I believe we were borrowing salt from Old Forge,” Mr. Zeleniak said. “We were running on fumes.”
No room in the shed
In Throop, street commissioner Robert Kalinoski is feeling the heat.
“We still have to take about 290 tons of our 510-ton minimum order, and I’m lucky if I have room for another 100 tons in the storage shed,” Mr. Kalinoski said.
The less than 80 tons of salt Throop has used this winter pales in comparison to the roughly 650 tons it used by the end of January last year. The silver lining is that Throop shouldn’t have to order much for next season — if it can pack it into the salt shed.
“I think if we can use about 100 tons before the end of the season, we’ll be able to store the rest,” Mr. Kalinoski said. “That shouldn’t be a terrible burden, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
The small borough of Mayfield had only purchased 23.92 tons of their 125 ton original order by late January, but secretary Phyllis Jaskowiec isn’t worried about having a surplus.
“Mayfield has a lot of hills, so the rain and the runoff freezes when it gets cold at night,” she said. “We use the salt to take care of that, too.”
Mayfield can store excess salt at their DPW site, leaving them in a good financial position. As of late January, the borough had only spent $1,747.12 of the $9,130 that its 125-ton original order would have cost.
Lots of leftovers
Many other municipalities are enjoying the effect warm weather has had on their bottom lines.
Dickson City is on the hook for at least 1,200 tons of salt this year, which will cost them $87,648. This may seem like a lot, but not when considering the $146,080 it would have had to pay for the original 2,000 ton order. And with various storage options available, borough manager Cesare Forconi isn’t sweating the unseasonable warmth.
“We have a new storage facility that can hold 700 tons,” said Mr. Forconi. “We got close to running out last year and two years ago we had to go through a third party, but by storing more we shouldn’t run into shortages like that again.”
In Clarks Summit, which was over budget last year when it came to buying salt, borough manager Virginia Kehoe said that milder weather does make a difference.
The 1,700 tons ordered last winter was 200 tons more than it had budgeted for. This year, the borough ordered 1,500 tons again, but had only had 437 tons of that delivered by late January.
Scranton has used a little more than half of the 2,200 tons of road salt and 800 tons of anti-skid material ordered in November, city DPW Director Dennis Gallagher said.
“I got a barn down here filled great, compared to last year,” Mr. Gallagher said of the DPW storage facility on Poplar Street. “The last two years (winters), I got whacked” with storms.
Carbondale has used up about half of its stockpiles of salt and cinders. The Pioneer City began this winter season with 125 tons of salt left over, and in January ordered another 125 tons. The city also ordered 180 tons of cinders so far this season.
While stockpiles remain up, DPW overtime has been down, which has helped the city’s coffers, Mayor Justin Taylor said.
Eye to the future
AccuWeather meteorologist Jack Boston said area municipalities will likely dip into their salt stockpiles in February and March.
“Given the (weather) pattern, the season’s biggest storm will likely come in March, with the chance for a few snow bents in February,” Mr. Boston said. “They should have the opportunity to use some of their salt.”
Clayton Over, Kyle Wind, Jim Lockwood and Sarah Scinto, staff writers, contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: jhorvath@timesshamrock.com