During a Monday, April 14 meeting, the Pleasant Prairie Village Board considered and approved a contract for an additional $120,000 salt expenditure for the 2014 budget year. The Village Public Works Department made the request following the 2013/2014 Winter season when the frequency of snow and ice events lead to the use of almost double the amount of road salt.
Director of Public Works John Steinbrink Jr. explained, “The winter of 2013/2014 yielded the most snow events and salt usage since we began keeping records in 1995. While the average salt usage over the last four years is 2,644 tons, crews in Pleasant Prairie used 5,023 tons of road salt between November 2013 and March 2014, almost two times the average, to maintain the same road standards.”
The Village salt barn can hold 7,200 tons when full. There are currently 1,600 tons of salt in the barn. The Village expects an additional delivery of 500 reserve tons this month. After April, salt will not be readily available for delivery until late January of 2015, and during peak demand times, salt vendors servicing Wisconsin have struggled to keep up with demand. “In order to be prepared to provide uninterrupted service at the end of this year, we will need to act within this budget year to rebuild our road salt supply,” explained Steinbrink.
The estimated cost of the road salt is $60 per ton, leading to the $120,000 request over and above what had been originally budgeted for 2014 ($185,000 to $305,000). The Village will attempt to create savings across multiple other areas in order to cover the early salt purchase within the 2014 budget. If enough savings cannot be created, the Village has reserve funds that it could use to cover the remaining balance. The 2015 budget for road salt will be adjusted accordingly, depending upon the projected use throughout the upcoming season.