Snow Cleanup May Leave County $300K Budget Shortfall
Posted
Jordan Fouts-
Heavy snow cleanup is likely to leave a nearly $300,000 hole in the budget that must be filled by year’s end, Kosciusko County Highway Superintendent Scott Tilden told county council Thursday night. Keeping up with a repeated pounding of snowstorms in the past two months has drained the highway department’s salt, fuel, contractual, overtime and shop budgets more than usual, Tilden said. He projected salt to be $125,000 short by the end of the year, fuel $75,000 to $100,000 short, contractual $50,000 short, overtime pay $15,000 short and shop and supplies $10,000 short. “Altogether there’s been about $275,000 spent above and beyond a normal winter ... material-wise, equipment-wise and time-wise,” he told council. Fuel alone slurped up a tanker truck’s worth – each costing about $26,000 – every 10 days to keep plows going during the worst weather, he said. He added that the county’s supply of salt should last the rest of winter, but couldn’t say if it would be enough for the next snowy season. Fuel and overtime pay will depend on the rest of this season as well as potential storms and flooding in summer, he said. Federal disaster funding is a possible source of reimbursement, but likely won’t pay more than a quarter of costs incurred during only the worst 48 hours of snow, Tilden observed. “I’ve done a lot of these over the years,” he said. “We may get a little of that.” The projected shortfall comes despite a higher budget this year than last, $4.2 million in 2013 and closer to $5 million this year, the extra money due to a change in state law that allowed more funding, Tilden said this morning. He said he put that extra money into bituminous material, which is now the only motor vehicle highway fund account that could afford to contribute to the shortfall. But that may hurt the department’s ability to patch potholes once the snow is gone, he indicated Thursday. Fund transfers will have to be made carefully, he and county officials agreed. “Robbing other accounts will not solve the problem,” said County Commissioner Ron Truex, who attended the council meeting. “We have to work together to find the money... It’s not a case of ‘we’re short $300,000,’ it’s that we need to replace $300,000.”
