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Mild winter is boon for area municipalities

Tom Knights, director of public works in Butler Township, sweeps salt in the shed along Duffy Road on Friday. Knights said the township actually ended up using more salt this year than in years past, but still managed to come out ahead in terms of expenses because of falling prices.

Winter officially came to an end Monday, and municipalities around Butler County are taking inventory of their salt stockpiles and maintenance expenditures.

With a mild season of snow and freezing temperatures in the books, many say they were able to saves tens of thousands of dollars — money that the municipalities say gets pumped right back into road maintenance during the spring and summer months.

“We are down (in terms of use) from last year, and going into next winter we're in great shape,” said Jerry Andree, the manager of Cranberry Township. “Every dollar we save on winter maintenance we plow right back into road maintenance.”

For the township, that savings amounted to about $100,000 as of March 22, Andree said. Cranberry spent about $206,000 on salt for the 2016-17 winter season, down from $305,000 in 2016 and $418,000 in 2015. Andree said the township's total winter maintenance budget is about $600,000.

In Butler City, the winter roads also were kind to officials, and city clerk Mindy Gall said that as of this week the city had spent only $88,399 of its winter maintenance budget. That followed a downward trend similar to Cranberry's, Gall said. And last year only $158,000 — about half of the 2016 winter maintenance budget — was spent.

The city, like many municipalities, gets much of its winter road budget from the state in the form of liquid fuels fund money, so the funds have to be used for specific purposes like paving, traffic signal maintenance and other, road-based projects. Gall said this year the city will use some of the excess funds to make payments on its new street sweeper.

“It doesn't help the general fund, but it's nice that we have the extra money to keep the equipment running and get streets repaired,” Gall said.

Tom Knights, Butler Township's director of public works, said the township actually ended up using more salt this year than in years past, but still managed to come out ahead in terms of expenses because of falling prices. The township participates in a state contract for road salt, and paid $55 per ton this year, using 3,019 tons for the 2016-17 winter season. Last year, Knights said, the township paid $76 per ton and used 1,854 tons.

“There's no real good way to (pinpoint final expenses), but for the remainder of the year we have both a healthy inventory of salt and we do have funding for any winter maintenance that would occur in November or December,” Knights said.

For PennDOT officials in charge of keeping state roads throughout Butler County passable during winter months, salt use has fallen below five-year average numbers, but officials say they've used more brine — a mix of rock salt, magnesium chloride and water — than in years past.

According to numbers provided by District 10, PennDOT spread 19,279 tons of salt on roads this winter — less than the average 22,573 tons the district has used in each of the past five years. At the same time, PennDOT spread 252,340 gallons of brine on Butler County roads this winter, about 85,000 gallons more than average. The department said financial data on winter road maintenance for the year wasn't immediately available.

Seven Fields, in southern Butler County, also reported savings from the mild winter, with borough manager Tom Smith saying the municipality has spent less than half of the $28,500 that had been budgeted for road salt. Smith said the borough has also saved more than $4,000 in budgeted overtime wages for its road crew.

“You plan the best you possibly can, and when it doesn't happen, obviously financially that's great for your bottom line,” Smith said.

Harmony council President Greg Such said the borough's salt use amounted to about half of last winter's total, but figures weren't immediately available.

“It looks like we have another order (of salt) that we won't use this year,” Such said.

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