News

Budgets stung by rising cost of road salt

By Mike Stucka
Staff Writer
Published: August 20, 2008

In the mid-August heat, a winter wind is blowing through local government budgets and sweeping away cold, hard cash.

The cost for road salt is going up — dramatically. A Boxford-based consortium that buys salt for several local towns is facing a 30 percent price increase — from $48.90 a ton last year to $63.83 this year.

Ipswich, which is part of the consortium, expects to spend an extra $100,000 on salt, so it may leave roads a little slushier and stop clearing private ways, something it does now to let firetrucks and ambulances through.

Ipswich Selectman Pat McNally said he learned how to drive on still-snowy roads in upstate New York. The town has practiced "'we've cleaned up our plate after every meal' snowplowing," he said. "It doesn't have to be as good as it has been." McNally has asked town leaders to investigate what services could be trimmed to keep costs under control.

The town may ask for another $100,000 in salt money at the fall Town Meeting, Town Manager Bob Markel said.

Some of the area's biggest communities don't know how much of an increase to expect this year, but suffered through a 50 percent rise last year.

Beverly Public Services director Mike Collins is anxiously waiting to hear how much Beverly's costs will rise. Beverly is part of a Swampscott-based consortium that buys road salt, and last year, the price jumped about 50 percent, to $59.90 a ton. Beverly typically spreads about 4,000 tons of salt a year.

Collins said storm planning is incredibly stressful because he's thinking about general road safety, government budgets, emergency vehicle access and even the costs that businesses bear when schools are closed and employees have to stay home with their children.

Collins said a Toronto study years ago suggested the government could spend three times as much money on salt and still see economic rewards — but Beverly doesn't have that kind of money.

Collins said he expects prices to go up again when the consortium seeks bids in about a month.

"What really kills us is the little things, (when there's) not enough to plow, but you have to go out and do things," he said. "With the cost of salt now, it's just crazy."

John Dold, Boxford's DPW director, said he's always trying to run efficiently, because the town has to keep the roads safe but always remembers that salt is expensive. There isn't a safe way to cut back.

"There will be no waste, but we'll certainly still have to apply the way we have been doing," Dold said.

Oil prices a factor

Bob Jones, CEO of International Salt Co. in Pennsylvania, which has the contract with the Boxford consortium, said the price of salt depends on a variety of factors. Fuel prices for moving the salt have skyrocketed. Growth in countries like China and India have increased demand — and thus prices — for ships that carry the salt from Chile to the East Coast of North America. Salt prices could fall if oil prices drop, or a global recession reduces demand for the ships.

"The logistics costs are primary costs," Jones said.

Swampscott Purchasing Agent Sheryl Levenson said even knowing when to seek bids can affect prices.

Sometimes in late September, she gets high bids; sometimes in late October, she gets low bids from companies that didn't get earlier contracts. Her consortium serves larger local communities, including Beverly, Danvers, Peabody and Salem.

Salt expenses are ultimately tied to New England's snow, she said.

"I'll take it over tornadoes and earthquakes every time, to be honest with you," Levenson said. "I'll it take it because it melts. I'll take it over all of those things."