Pass the salt: West Dundee scrambles to get roads covered for winter

West Dundee officials have been scrambling to ensure the village has enough salt to keep roads safe this winter.

Village Manager Joe Cavallaro said Monday the price of road salt has more than doubled because the village has had to go it alone to find a vendor.

The town could be paying $122 a ton, a huge jump from $57 a ton last year when it was part of a state consortium facilitating collective bidding and bulk purchase of road salt to ensure lower prices.

"We cannot go without salt from a community service standpoint," Cavallaro said. "It's just unfortunate that we are scrambling last minute to figure this out."

West Dundee is among nearly 200 suburban communities left high and dry after the state's collective bidding process failed to secure a vendor willing to supply them with road salt.

More than 560 communities participated in the state's solicitation for road salt bids. Of those, 367 communities received bids from salt vendors and 195 did not, according to state officials.

In July, the Illinois Department of Central Management Services informed those city and county officials that no vendors responded to their requests for bids. Municipalities were asked to try for a second round of bids or go it alone to secure salt independently.

West Dundee's second bid attempt to secure 900 tons of road salt also failed, which officials didn't find out until early August, Cavallaro said.

"We had no notice from the state and no notice from the suppliers that this was going to be an issue," he said.

Neighboring Carpentersville, Crystal Lake and Huntley are in the same boat, he added.

According to state officials last winter's record frigid temperatures and snowfall depleted salt supplies.

Cavallaro said his village now has to make adjustments to its budget and snow maintenance plan.

Last year, the village bought 1,500 tons of road salt through the state, of which 200 tons remains in storage. Officials originally budgeted $60,000 for road salt this year, but expect to allocate an additional $50,000.

The village received bids between $122 and $175 per ton of road salt from seven vendors.

"It's basically doubling what we had expected to spend on salt for this year," Cavallaro said. "We're going to spend $110,000 this year for 900 tons. And we are probably going to have to take delivery of it all before Thanksgiving. Service providers are telling us (they) can't guarantee delivery over the course of the year."

Through the state, communities could typically call and get supplies when needed within a week.

By not purchasing through the state, West Dundee cannot use Motor Fuel Tax revenues to pay for the road salt and will have to reduce its public works budget elsewhere to make up for the added cost, Cavallaro said.

With less salt to spread over the village's 52 miles of roads, service levels also will have to be reduced. Intersections, curbs, hills and collector (busiest) streets will be top priority, while dead ends and cul-de-sacs will not get salted, Cavallaro said.

"We've got to start sparingly with the salt we have to make sure that we have enough come February/March," he added.