Borough Will Supply Schools Salt Once Again

Hopatcong schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano said on Monday the borough has agreed to give the district salt during the winter's upcoming snow storms.

Maranzano said the borough will supply the schools with two trucks of salt—or about 8 tons, according to Director of Grounds Neil Piro's estimate on Tuesday—for each storm. But if the district needed more during a particularly bad storm, it would pay an outside vendor, Piro said.

Borough Administrator Bob Elia wasn't available for comment Tuesday.

Last year the borough asked the schools to supply their own salt after years of sharing with the district not due to costs, but to availability, Piro said.

"This past year they asked us to pay for our salt because it was in such limited supply," Piro said. "And so for the upcoming year, we wanted to reach an understanding with them so there was no confusion about whether or not we would continue to get it at no cost or if this was going to be an ongoing problem for the borough that would cause us to need to pay for more salt."

The district needed more salt than usual—about 200 yards, or 300 tons, total—last winter due to the severity of several storms, Piro said.

"Last winter was much worse than the one before," he said. The schools took six snow days in 2010-2011.

Piro said the borough has two salt trucks. One truck carries 3 yards of salt, or about 4.5 tons, and the other carries 2 yards, or about 3 tons, he said. Salt costs the district about $83 per yard, he said. At that cost, the district would have spent about $16,600 on salt during the 2010-2011 school year.