Snow total is down, but street spending is about average

Freezing rain has kept salters busy

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Staff writer

While the City of Burlington – and to a larger extent, Wisconsin as a whole – has yet to be slammed by a major snowfall this year, that doesn’t mean that city street department employees have had nothing to do.

According to DPW Supervisor Dan Jensen, the city’s costs so far for 2012 are about average.

“It really depends on what time the storm hits,” said Jensen in regards to the amount of manpower the city has had to expend on snowstorms. “Our costs are about what they normally would be.”

So far in 2012, the city has gotten 24.33 inches of precipitation – which includes not just snow, but rain, freezing rain and ice. The average winter precipitation is about 52.4 inches, according to Jensen.

Last week’s storm dumped 6.5 inches of snow on the city. But while snow totals are down so far this winter, Jensen said the city has been dealing with freezing rain and ice on the roads, which requires the city send out salt trucks.

“We’ve had quite a bit of freezing rain this year,” said Jensen, which added to the amount of time spent on the streets. However, the city’s switch to brine on the streets – a preventative measure to preclude the need for extensive salting – has helped.

“(It’s gone) pretty well,” said Jensen. “We’re still learning, still making improvements.”

Because of the varying temperatures and freezing precipitation, though, the city hasn’t saved as much as it could have. Jensen said, of the $63,000 budget for salt, that the city has spent roughly 17 percent of that amount.

“We’ve had a lot of events with the rain,” Jensen said. “There’s a conception out there that everyone’s sitting on a lot of extra money, which isn’t really the case.

“One big storm late this spring or next fall, and we’ll be right back to where we were – or worse.”

Jensen has been with the city since July, when he replaced Dick Pieters. While he’s been on the job less than a year, Director of Public Works Connie Wilson said the transition has been smooth.

“It’s been a fantastic transition,” Wilson said. “We needed his leadership and his insight.”