Including the snowfall from last week, (Tuesday night / Wednesday morning) the city of Trenton has accumulated snow removal and ice control costs of $24,664.
That cost covers the winter period from mid-November through February 20th. The figure includes $15,244 in overtime costs for street department employees plus expenses related to diesel and unleaded fuel and ice melt products. During the three months plus, the street department report shows almost 379 tons of ice melt has been used more than 3,600 miles of Trenton streets have been snow plowed or spread with chat.
City Administrator Ron Urton said while only $10,000 was budgeted for overtime expense, he anticipates perhaps one-third of the $15,000 in overtime will be used as comp time. The overtime cost, however, will likely increase this spring.
Urton said street crews will work longer days by hauling millings when the milling contractor is working on designated streets in Trenton. Other overtime is expected to be incurred when the crane company operator is in Trenton to assist with assembling the new asphalt plant at the street department area.
As for the supply of ice melt product, Urton said Trenton has a good supply with two box trailers containing bags of salt that can be mixed with sand and rock chips. Urton noted snow removal equipment also is doing well with one exception that occurred during last week’s snow event. Urton said a chat spreader broke down last week and won’t be repaired due to anticipated costs of several thousand dollars worth of repairs to that piece of equipment that’s 40 plus years old. Urton said the unit was on the equipment replacement list for the next budget year. The city of Trenton has other chat spreaders that employees can utilize.
The fleet includes four dump trucks that plow snow with chat spreaders and two pickup trucks with blades, including one with a chat spreader.
