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80: That’s the amount in tons of road salt the Westmont Public Works Department has used so far this winter
The plan
The mild winter thus far has led to the Village of Westmont using much less road salt this year than last, and spending much less money for crews to salt and plow the roads.
Westmont Public Works Director Steve May said that as of Friday, the village had only used about 80 tons of rock salt thus far this year, with most of it going on two separate applications. He said those numbers are at least five to 10 times less than what was used last year at this same time.
While the village budget numbers for winter were not available, May estimated the village has spent about one-tenth last year’s budget on overtime costs for crews thus far.
“It’s been so mild, we haven’t needed any overtime,” he said. “But it won’t stay like this all winter. The snow and ice will come.”
He said the village uses about 2,000 tons of salt in an average winter.
The impact
Without having to salt or plow roadways, May said not only is the village saving money on overtime cost, but also freeing up crews to do other jobs around the village that they normally wouldn’t be able to do.
Because it was so warm last week, May said workers were actually able to do some concrete work for curb and sidewater restoration around town.
The village also does a lot of its forestry work in the winter time as well, and with the village being hit hard by the Emerald Ash Borer the past couple of years, it has given crews time to work on trees, he said.
“We usually do a lot of our tree trimming and pruning during the winter months, and with the weather the way it has been, we have been able to get a lot more of that done then we usually do this time of year.”
May said last month that more than 200 trees were removed from the Oakwood subdivision that were damaged by the ash borer, and the village has budgeted to replace 40 of them.
80: That’s the amount in tons of road salt the Westmont Public Works Department has used so far this winter
The plan
The mild winter thus far has led to the Village of Westmont using much less road salt this year than last, and spending much less money for crews to salt and plow the roads.
Westmont Public Works Director Steve May said that as of Friday, the village had only used about 80 tons of rock salt thus far this year, with most of it going on two separate applications. He said those numbers are at least five to 10 times less than what was used last year at this same time.
While the village budget numbers for winter were not available, May estimated the village has spent about one-tenth last year’s budget on overtime costs for crews thus far.
“It’s been so mild, we haven’t needed any overtime,” he said. “But it won’t stay like this all winter. The snow and ice will come.”
He said the village uses about 2,000 tons of salt in an average winter.
The impact
Without having to salt or plow roadways, May said not only is the village saving money on overtime cost, but also freeing up crews to do other jobs around the village that they normally wouldn’t be able to do.
Because it was so warm last week, May said workers were actually able to do some concrete work for curb and sidewater restoration around town.
The village also does a lot of its forestry work in the winter time as well, and with the village being hit hard by the Emerald Ash Borer the past couple of years, it has given crews time to work on trees, he said.
“We usually do a lot of our tree trimming and pruning during the winter months, and with the weather the way it has been, we have been able to get a lot more of that done then we usually do this time of year.”
May said last month that more than 200 trees were removed from the Oakwood subdivision that were damaged by the ash borer, and the village has budgeted to replace 40 of them.
