Rolling Meadows already preparing for winter weather

Though residents around the suburbs are still enjoying summer temperatures, Rolling Meadows is already preparing for the winter months by making sure the city’s stockpiles of road salt will be ready for the first snow.

“Nobody wants to start thinking about that quite yet,” said Rolling Meadows Mayor Tom Rooney. “But we have to be ready.”

The city council unanimously approved purchasing salt through the North American Salt Co. at a cost of $60.36 per ton at a meeting on Tuesday night. The price is a slight increase from last year. For the past two winters the price held steady at $58.89 per ton, according to the resolution.

Salt is the most efficient and cost-effective way to melt ice on the roads, but the costs have been increasing over the years. According to city documents, during the winter of 2001-02 Rolling Meadows paid $31.93 per ton.

The winter purchase will be made soon, and the salt will be delivered before the first storm of the season.

The city’s salt storage facility can hold up to 1,200 tons and still has approximately 1,000 tons of salt in storage from last year, according to the resolution.

According to the agreement with North American Salt Co., Rolling Meadows must purchase 2,500 tons, give or take 500 tons depending on the weather. Total cost for 2,500 tons of winter street salt will cost the city $150,900.

Although it’s only September, the state advises municipalities to order early and store as much salt as possible to prevent shortages later in the winter.

The council has also begun discussing the proposed city budget for fiscal year 2012, which is now available on the Rolling Meadows website. The council’s committee of the whole will devote much of the Tuesday, Sept. 20, meeting to budget preliminary budget discussions, which may include a tax levy increase.