Storm spree costing communities cash

The plethora of snow that has blanketed the North Shore is putting snow and ice removal budgets in the red.Lynn Department of Public Works Commissioner Jay Fink said the city has already blown through its $765,000 snow and ice budget for the entire season.?So far this year we have spent four or five times what we had spent at this time last year,” Fink said.That doesn’t surprise meteorologists, who said the area has already received more snow this season than it does during an average winter.National Weather Service Meteorologist Bill Simpson, who works out of the Taunton office, said snowfall totals at Logan Airport, which is the closest measuring station to Lynn, were 28.4 inches as of midnight Wednesday, before the latest storm hit.?The average snowfall for the month of January at Logan is 11.4 inches,” he said.Simpson said the average seasonal snowfall at Logan Airport is 41.9 inches.?As of midnight Wednesday, Logan has received 50.4 inches of snow,” he said. “I think we received another 8.8 inches since midnight Wednesday so we’re up to about 59.2 inches.”Swampscott Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta said the storms have taken a toll on the snow and ice removal budget. Cresta said salt costs $43 a ton and almost 1,000 tons of salt have already been used this season.?We budgeted $125,000 for the season,” Cresta said. “Before this storm we were right at $125,000 and there is no doubt this storm puts us in the red. I think this latest storm will cost us about $20,000.”Nahant Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said the town budgeted $20,000 for snow and ice removal and more than $50,000 has been spent. Unlike most area communities, Nahant does not hire independent contractors for snow and ice removal. Cullinan said it is all handled by the Department of Public Works.Saugus Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said the town budgeted $150,000 and it has already spent four times that amount.Fink said the heaviest snow hit during overnight hours, which aided snow removal efforts.?It (snow) didn’t quite come in as predicted,” Cresta said. “At about 3 a.m. the snow started coming in pretty fast. It was accumulating at two to three inches an hour, which wasn’t quite what we expected.”Fink admits snow removal efforts in the city aren’t perfect, but he attributes that to a lack of heavy equipment.?The weight and amount of the snow is a problem,” Fink said. “Most of our fleet (in-house and contractor) is smaller equipment. About 70 percent of our fleet is pickup truck size, I wish we had some heavier equipment to push it back more.”Cresta said snow removal in Swampscott proceeded smoothly because the department was able to get a head start on the storm.?We started salting streets at 11 p.m. on Wednesday and started plowing at 1 a.m. on Thursday with in-house (DPW) crews.”Cresta said at 3:20 a.m. on Thursday he called in 21 independent contractors.?Everything was going relatively smoothly,” he said. “We got a good jump on it and the last three weeks when we weren’t plowing we were removing snow so we’re in good shape.”