Snow breaking bank in Saugus

SAUGUS – Despite the vast amount of white stuff on the ground a number of plowing contractors are seeing red after receiving pink slips.Public Works Superintendent Joseph Attubato said in an effort to try and cut costs he put 17 snow plow contractors on standby.”These storms are costing us a fortune,” he said Monday. “We have 90 contractors, that’s just too much so I cut 17 out of the loop and put them on standby. I know they’re not happy about it.”Attubato said most were good men and he felt bad, particularly in this economy, to essentially lay them off but he said he also had to do what was best for the town. The $100,000 set aside in the budget for snow and ice removal is long gone.”We’ve spent that much on rock salt and sand,” Attubato said. “I don’t have an exact number but it’s well over $200,000. It could be over $300,000.”While the Public Works tries to handle as much of the storm clean-up as it can, Attubato said it’s difficult when he has only 18-20 town employees who can plow and most of them are needed as “checkers.”The town is cut into sections, each section has a foreman and a group of contractors who the foremen send out on particular routes. The foremen then has to check the routes to make sure everyone is doing their job and getting the streets cleared.”We have 125 miles of road to plow and a lot of the guys I have to take off the truck to act as checkers,” he said. “It’s a real juggling act.”Attubato said he was also thrown by the amount of snow that came with the last blast Sunday night into Monday.”When we left at midnight it was just flurries,” he said. “We went home, the men were beat.”Later, however, Attubato said he received a call from one of his foremen telling him there was considerably more snow than they expected.”We had to get everyone back out there again,” he said.Attubato said he’s also considering changing up the way the town plows by doing more of a cleanup effort rather than trying to stay ahead of the storms.”I wonder if we shouldn’t just wait until after the snow stops before we start plowing,” he said. “I don’t know but we have to do something . . . and people are going to have to be patient.”Attubato said he knows neither residents nor contractors are going to be happy with the changes but he feels they are unavoidable. While the town is allowed to deficit spend in the snow and ice removal account, it will have to be made up in the 2010 budget.”We’re trying to cut back and conserve because we just don’t have the money,” he said. “These are some good men and I feel bad but I will probably look at the list again later this week.”