>Village’s snowfall costs pile up : $36,000 just for salt.
Village’s snowfall costs pile up
Friday, March 4, 2011
BY MICHAEL SEDON
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Staff Writer
Since Mother Nature rarely keeps regular business hours, this winter’s snowstorms dropped some extra expenses on the village, totaling more than $350,000 so far.
Total accumulation for the eight storms that pummeled Ridgewood equaled about 54.25 inches, said local weather enthusiast Roger Wiegand. At one point between January and February, there was nearly one storm per week.
The expense of those storms is borne mainly by three village departments: Streets, Fleets and Parks and Recreation. Snowstorms create overtime costs for various departments as well as “on call pay,” given to employees who must come to work as the winter weather dictates, explained Village Manager Ken Gabbert in an e-mail.
“Staff are paid to be available in case of an emergent need,” Gabbert wrote. “When called into work, they have a minimum of two hours pay paid.”
Most statistics for this story were obtained by The Ridgewood News from an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request. The figures do not include the Feb. 21 snowstorm, for which information was not included in the request.
So far this winter, the village paid overtime to five departments for snow removal: $107,597 for Streets; $33,769 for Parks; $9,377 for Fleets; $7,701 for police; and $3,049 for the Ridgewood Fire Department. A private contractor, Conquest Industries LLC, was paid $123,960 for snow removal. The “on call pay” went to employees of the Streets ($19,368) Fleets ($2,682) and Parks ($13,968) departments.
Salt, calcium chloride and brine are used to help keep streets ice free, and the total cost for those products so far this winter is $40,376, with more than $36,000 of that price tag covering just salt.
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