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Team coverageMore snow is in the forecast, and some cities hope they have enough money left to clear the snow for the rest of the winter.
Cities on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley were hit particularly hard with snowstorms last month. Murray Mayor Dan Snarr says his city has already exhausted three-fourths of its salt and snow-removal budget.
"We had two extraordinary weeks from the 14th of December to the 26th, and the snow Christmas Day was a heavy, heavy wet snow; it immediately turned to ice. And we want our citizens to be safe. We want those who come shop in our community to be safe, so we put a lot of salt down," Snarr said.
But Snarr says if that budget runs out, the city will allocate funds from other budgets to keep its citizens safe.
Murray isn't alone in its budget woes. South Jordan has spent nearly 40 percent of it's snow-removal budget already; West Jordan has spent nearly 25 percent.
All those cities use past data to predict the upcoming winter's budget, but it's not a perfect science. "We don't know what lies ahead; nobody does. If anyone has a crystal ball, let me know," Snarr said.
Not everyone is getting plowed over. Ogden city administrators tell KSL they are on budget and have other reserves they can pull from if they get dumped on in the coming months.
Midvale reports their numbers are adding up too, and the Utah Department of Transportation, where a Utah winter storm cost them $1 million, is right on track as well.
Last year, UDOT expenses for snow removal went over budget by $2 million. This year, they upped their budget to $26 million to compensate.
At only $60,000, Murray's budget is nothing close to UDOT's. Though it's already almost gone, the mayor assures its residents not to worry.
"We have some reserves set aside," Snarr said. "We feel confident we'll be able to take care of our citizens throughout the remainder of the 2009 plow season."
*E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com *E-mail: spark@ksl.com
*E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com***
