Burlington, Vermont- You would think that the mild winter is helping to ease some of the burden on city and town budgets which planned for a snowy season. However, because of the freeze and thaw effect on the roads, it is actually creating more hassle for some departments.
Burlington streets are dry, the grass is brown with no snow to be found. That is why plow trucks at the public works department sat idle Monday.
"It feels spring like in a way," says Steve Goodkind, the director of the Burlington Public Works Department. He says this year is much different than last year when we had around 55 inches of snow at the end of January, "Last year was wicked, we were way over budget by the end of the season."
So far this year, we've only seen a total of 24 inches. So we asked him where the budget stands right now.
"The budget is $777,000 and we're somewhere in the low $300,000's right now."
Goodkind says this year is a relatively normal season and the budget is on track, "The way the cycle works we would have only spent around half our budget."
But that's not the case for the state of Vermont, VTrans says the state has already spent $30,000 more than last year. That's because the state has spent more on brine and salt, thanks to the freeze and thaw of the up and down temperatures. So for now, the crews and their trucks stand by and wait for snow.
"The crews are waiting this is what we do in the winter, you're limited to what else you can do in the winter, so hope it snows a little," says Goodkind.
To give you an idea of why the state is $30,000 over budget already; they have used 3,000 more tons in winter salts and 30,000 more gallons of brine than last year.
Comment Agreement
