Saugus budget deficit continues to rise

SAUGUS – Town Manager Andrew Bisignani feared that come June the town could be looking at a snow and ice deficit of $500,000 and it is inching ever closer.The Department of Public Works racked up about a $70,000 bill for last weekend’s storm.DPW Superintendent Joseph Attubato said crews began sanding early Friday and plowed up until about 3 a.m. Saturday.”Then we had to sidewalk plow,” he said.With another storm predicted for today, Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said once again he is hoping for rain.The town budgeted $150,000 for snow and ice removal but surpassed that by $350,000 last month. With spring still several weeks away – and notoriously unpredictable in New England – the town could easily surpass the half million-dollar mark.But Attubato said there is actually something worrying him more than the snow and ice deficit and that’s potholes and a possible sinkhole.On Main Street just past the Lynn Fells Parkway but before Howard Street is the mother of all potholes, according to Attubato.”It’s about five-feet long, five-feet across and two-feet deep,” he said. “I’m afraid it might be a sinkhole.”The hole is filled at the moment, but Attubato said severe rains could kick the temporary fill out of the hole leaving a dangerous road hazard.”It’s only a temporary fix,” he explained. “When the hot top plants open up in the spring we’ll fix it permanently.”Attubato said he fears this particular hole is over an old culvert that carries a brook that flows from Melrose under the roadway.”I think the problem is at the culvert,” he said. “It might be too big for us to repair.”Attubato said he has also been fielding calls regarding other potholes and feels they are essentially refilling the same culprits.The one thing that is not on Attubato’s mind is water breaks, which is quite a departure from years past.”We’re up to about 26 since July,” he said. “Winter is not over yet, but as a rule we get 30 or 40 so maybe we’ll come in under the rule.”Attubato maintains that the decrease in waterline breaks is a direct result of the miles of water mains the DPW has laid over the last few years. The water main project has been funded solely through no-interest loans available through the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority.”It may not look like it to people outside this department, but that’s the reason for the low number of breaks-I know it and the men here have begun to notice it,” he said.