Arlington Hts. OKs an extra $200,000 for overtime

Salt isn't the only major expense for municipalities hoping to keep their roads clear this winter.

The Arlington Heights village board unanimously approved on Monday spending an additional $200,000 in overtime for employees charged with plowing snow.

Half of the money will come from the village's contingency account and the other half will come from the village's tree trimming account, according to a village memo.

Village officials said they hope that will be enough to last the rest of the winter, which is estimated to last another six weeks, said Scott Shirley, the village's director of public works.

"At this point the forecast for at least the next 10 days is favorable," Shirley said. "If we get a little more help from Mother Nature, we should be able to get by with what we have. We've dodged a lot of bullets this year."

Currently, the village has used about 5,600 tons of salt and had about 2,300 tons of salt remaining, Shirley said.

With salt costing about $135 per ton, he's waiting until the last possible minute to purchase some more.

"We're not under contract with anyone to buy additional salt," he said. "We're hoping prices will go down in the off season."

Because of the high price of salt, the village has already cut back this year when it comes to snow plowing. For example, only about 300 tons of salt is used per storm this year, where 460 tons of salt per storm was used last year, Shirley said.

In addition, snowplow drivers may skip some side streets after a light snowfall.

"As long as we're not creating a hazardous condition, we're letting it go," Shirley said.