Mild Winter Kept Costs Low But Borough Has to Prepare for Other Emergencies

The borough may have gotten through the better part of this winter so far with minimal snow removal costs and overtime as compared to other years, however when it comes to budgeting the borough must still be prepared for other weather emergencies that could take place later in the year, Mike Kronyak, the borough’s chief financial officer explained.

This mild winter has produced the least amount of spending on snow removal and overtime in about 10 years, Kronyak said. Last year, $80,000 was spent over the winter months due to record breaking snowfall and that was before the August hurricane and the Oct. 29 nor’easter snowstorm.

Kronyak said budgeting for storm costs from year to year varies because there really is no way to tell what types of events could happen and when.  Since many factors vary year to year such as fuel costs it can be difficult to budget for storm related overtime costs with an exact dollar amount, Kronyak explained. Instead he determines what the costs may be based on the amount of hours that were put in the previous year.

Since last year was such an extreme case with a rough winter, a hurricane and the October storm which caused extensive damage to trees all around the borough, Kronyak said he can probably amend the overtime budget for this year but he can’t cut all funds because other weather emergencies could still arise later this year.

What happens during the winter months is not the basis for the entire year, Kronyak said pointing out the hurricane and October snowstorm are examples of emergencies that occurred during non-winter months.

Another example was the March 2010 Nor’Easter storm which cost the borough $38,000 in overtime following a winter that had significant enough snowfall where the borough spent about $55,000 in overtime  that winter, he said.

The borough is able to apply for reimbursement from FEMA for damaging storms like the hurricane and nor'easter but as is the case most times the money usually isn’t received until the following budget year so the borough has to put up the funds when emergencies occur and hope to be reimbursed later, he explained.

Kronyak said the FEMA paperwork for both the hurricane and October snowstorm should be completed in another week or so and it would then take  months until the borough receives the funds.

When it comes down to it, there is no option when it comes to attending to a weather emergency, the borough has to get the crews out there to salt and perform clean up and do what needs to be done, he explained.