Snow Budget.
Heard on the news this morning about snow removal costs and creating a lottery ticket to make up differences.
NewsCenter 5 surveyed several cities and towns about their expenditures for snow removal the winter 2007-2008.
I gleaned the following data from the article on their website entitled; City & Town Snow Budgets; Most Towns Are Over Budget
Here is a breakdown of cities in Massachusetts.
I have provided the City name, total road miles as published on the Massachusetts, Department of Revenue website, At A Glance Report and a calculation of the cost per mile for snow removal.
Brookline          105.89     ($4816.32/mile)
Cambridge       141.68      ($4954.83/mile)
Canton               108.53     ($1750.67/mile)
Dedham             106.40     ($3759.40/mile)
Malden              108.93      ($2386.85/mile)
Medford            137.30      ($2534.60/mile)
Quincy               223.87     ($4069.33/mile)
Revere               109.32     ($2286.86/mile)
Worcester         521.08     ($4337.15/mile)
Note that the amount of road miles per town varies greatly as does the cost per mile.
No attempt was made to determine if one had a more cost effective method or if the citizens were more satisfied with the snow removal in one town versus another.
Methuen allocates about $250,000 each year for snow removal. they spend in excess of $1,000,000, closer to $2,000,000 each year on snow removal costs. This doesn’t seem to account for the costs of snow removal at the Schools, which is controlled by the School Committee.
Methuen, from the same source as above has 214.75 road miles.
In 2007-2008 we spent close to $1,600,000 for snow removal. Councilor, then Chairman Lahey stated at a Council meeting 12/28/2008–”Last year, 1.6 million dollars was spent”. That is about $7450.52 per road mile.
I understand that this budget item is allowed by law to go into deficit, but shouldn’t an analysis be done to determine what the best methodology is for snow and ice removal. I mean the most cost effective method. Poll surrounding towns. What do they do? What procedures do they have in place? How do they keep costs in line, if they do.
What does the City do to control the subcontractors? What written procedures do they have? Do they compare favorably with surrounding communities?