Storms Bust City Snow Budgets
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
The repeated pounding of major winter storms is taking its toll on city snow budgets—pushing them to the breaking point, according to data released to GoLocalProv yesterday.
Providence spends $1.2 million so far—Of the largest cities in the state, Providence remains within budget—so far. The city has spent $1.2 million and has a total of $1.82 million set aside for plowing and sanding streets, according to David Ortiz, a spokesman for Mayor Angel Taveras. However, the numbers do not take into account the costs of the most recent storm, which won’t be known for at least several days.
Pawtucket already over budget—So far, the city has eaten up $283,000 of its $508,000 snow budget. But that comes with two big caveats. In the first place, bills from private snowplow vendors are still coming in. The city currently estimates that those will push it $60,000 over budget. And, once again, that doesn’t incorporate the additional costs of the current storm, which could pile on another $150,000 to $200,000 in costs.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“Wish we could petition Mother Nature for a ceasefire but that’s probably not a viable alternative,” said Doug Hadden, a spokesman for Mayor Don Grebien. “In a roughly $200 million budget, and with Mayor Grebien continuing to shave costs wherever possible, the administration will seek to find savings wherever we can to address the snowstorms need.”
Grebien also issued a statement expressing appreciation for “how hard Public Works crews have worked to keep up with the ‘fallout’” from the storms. He noted that crews were out last weekend shaving streets back to the curb. “The hours they’re called to put in and the conditions they face are extraordinary,” Grebien said.
Warwick has 15 percent left in budget—As of Monday, the City of Warwick had spent 84.42 percent of its $470,000 snow budget, according to Sue Baker, a spokeswoman for Mayor Scott Avedisian.
“As for handling the costs of continuing storms, going forward, DPW will continue to operate as it has during all storms this winter,” Baker told GoLocalProv. “If the snow budget is depleted, before the end of the fiscal year, the DPW director, in consultation with the Finance director, will examine DPW’s overall department budget and other areas, if necessary, to see what line items can be used to cover any snow budget deficits.”
Cranston busted its snow budget—Cranston has already spent all of the $550,000 in its snow budget, but it does have a cushion of $266,000 in snow reserve accounts, according to Robin Schutt, Director of Administration for Mayor Allan Fung.
Schutt said the city wouldn’t tap into the reserve funds until the end of the year.
“The way our Charter sets up the budget, we can’t do inter-departmental transfers, but we can do intra-departmental transfers…..so where there are line items in that department in the black, we can draw,” Schutt said. “In the fourth quarter, we can then reconcile the total budget. If there is a shortfall, that’s exactly what ‘rainy-day’ funds are for – crisis situations over which we have little control.”
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