Funds For Plowing Have Melted Away

The money set aside to clear snow from city streets is nearly gone, leaving Spokane officials hoping they’ve seen the last of winter’s fury.

January’s two-week snow smorgasbord almost depleted the $1.1 million earmarked for plowing. More snow could force the city to use street-repair dollars for snow removal.

“We have to keep plowing” if there’s another snowstorm, said Jim Smith, director of city street maintenance. “We do what we have to do.”

What began as a mild winter turned nasty Jan. 19, when four inches of snow fell on Spokane. Nearly 18 inches lay on the ground by month’s end.

Two weeks of almost daily storms kept crews on the run, Smith said.

“Usually, the snow falls, it stops, and we plow. Then, we sit back and wait for the next snow to hit,” he said. “In this case, we’d get a snowfall. We’d start to plow, and it would snow again.

“We’d have to start all over again.”

It normally takes about 72 hours to plow all 825 miles of city streets. Cleaning up after this season’s two major storms took five days each.

The city last used all its plowing budget in the winter of 1992-93, when 87.3 inches of snow fell. That year, the council added $500,000 to the transportation department’s spending plan to cover increased costs, said budget manager Ken Stone.

Even with more money, the street fund, which pays for plowing and repairs, fell in the hole in 1993. It took the next two year’s mild winters to pull the fund into the black.

This year, the city doesn’t have a lot of extra cash. Reserves in this year’s city government general fund total only $1.5 million.

“I have no clue as to how we’ll handle it this year,” Smith said. “This is a tight budget year.”

To make matters worse, harsh temperatures have left roads “in terrible shape because of the frost heaving,” said Bruce Steele, city transportation director.

“Frost heaving” occurs when water freezes in the cracks of asphalt, causing the roadway to crumble.

Another snowfall this winter could limit the number of potholes patched next summer.

And, since the snow plow budget is meant to last through year’s end, a November or December snow could move the street fund back into negative numbers by next Jan. 1.

That means there’ll be even fewer dollars for plowing next year.

“This year, we have to be very cautious about what we do to make sure we have money at the end of the year,” Steele said. “I just don’t know yet how it’s going to be.”

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