Huge layout of funds to battle 1st ’08 snowfall

As the first snow of 2008 fell Monday, so did any chance of North Shore communities coming in on budget for snow clean-up this season.Plows hit the streets early in Lynn, Saugus, Swampscott, Revere, Peabody and surrounding towns trying to combat the ever-building snow piles.As the snow came down in Saugus so did the tree limbs. Weighted from an early morning mix with rain, Department of Public Works Superintendent Joseph Attubato said tree limbs large and small were coming down and in some cases bringing down wires along with them.”We’ve been out picking up limbs all morning,” he said Monday. “I just hope no one loses their heat.”Attubato said DPW plows hit the streets around 5 a.m. and the contractors were called in shortly thereafter to keep ahead of the snow.”They all know the routes they have to go to,” he said, “and we have checkers in place.”Residents along the main drag can also expect their sidewalks cleaned. Attubato said he caught wind of last week’s Selectmen meeting where Emory Street resident Rick Mytkowicz raised concerns over snowy sidewalks.”I don’t know what he thinks is going on,” Attubato said. “We plow sidewalks on all the main streets and all around the schools.”Attubato admits there were a few complaints regarding the Lynnhurst School during the last storm.”That could have been a foul up,” he said, “but that’s the only complaint we got. It might take us a few days but we always do all the main sidewalks.”While the snow tapered off in the afternoon Attubato said crews would remain out plowing and sanding well into the night. The entire storm he said would likely cost the community nearly $100,000.”I’m sure it will cost as much if not more than the last storm,” Attubato said, “It will probably be around $100,000.”Nahant Department of Public Works Director Robert Ward said crews have managed to keep pace with the storm and the roads were kept clear throughout Monday.”Our roads are in good shape,” he said. “We got out there early and tried to stay ahead of it.”Swampscott Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta said the roads were in good shape Monday because he got crews out the minute the rain turned to snow.”We got the guys out there at 5 a.m.,” he said. “We have 16 pieces of town equipment out there and 19 pieces of contracted equipment.”But using contractors and keeping roads clear comes with a price.Ward said Nahant has already spent its snow and ice removal budget for the year.”We budgeted $20,000 for snow and ice removal,” he said. “We don’t have all the numbers from this storm yet but my guess is the money is gone.”Ward said to make matters worse the price of salt is up from last year.”Right now we have salt on hand but it probably won’t last the winter,” he said. “It’s $60 for a ton of salt so it costs us $1,800 for a load of salt now.”Swampscott budgeted $75,000 for snow and ice removal, which Cresta said is gone.”We depleted our budget by the end of December,” he said. “We got some early storms this year that decimated our budget.”Lynn Department of Public Works Commissioner Jay Fink said while the amount of snow didn’t add up to the accumulation predicted.”Some of us spent a bit of a sleepless night waiting for the snow to come and we started salting the roads at about 4 a.m. and started plowing at 8 a.m.,” he said. “The snow was actually quite heavy and all told we got about eight inches.”Fink said roughly a dozen large tree limbs snapped and crashed under the weight of the snow onto city roadways during the storm, which impeded snow removal.Residents of the city moved fairly quickly to remove snow from sidewalks according to Fink, but a large number of people failed to move their vehicles in time for plows to clear the streets.”We had an awful lot of ticketing and towing of cars,” he said. “The parking ban went into effect at midnight and people had plenty of time to move their cars, but we had the tow lots completely filled by 4:30 a.m. I just don’t understand why people don’t move thei