Wednesday March 12, 2008

Some Expenses Already Paid

Louisville Metro Public Works calculated extra expenses from the weekend snow storm will total just over $250,000 – mostly due to overtime and fuel costs. The city had already paid for the 3,000 tons of salt used to treat the roads. That amount of salt cost $220,000. About 10,000 tons of salt remain in the city’s storage.

Overtime labor costs constitute a large portion of the expense because the storm was primarily fought over the weekend, on longer than normal shifts. The city spent $24,000 for fuel for its 129 trucks on the road from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. Rising gasoline prices contributed to the cost of the storm.

“We were very pleased with the work of our road crews over the weekend, and I think most citizens of this community would say they appreciated their work, too,” said Ted Pullen, the city’s Public Works director.

Mayor Jerry Abramson will work with department directors and the finance team to find the money to pay the bills from the storm. “The budget is tight, but we had to hit this storm with everything we had so people could resume their normal schedules,” said Abramson. “From that perspective, the snow team’s work was priceless.”

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