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Clark County spent more than $275,000 on road salt this season after a record snowfall forced officials to use about 5,000 tons this winter.
Clark County Engineer John Burr said on Wednesday his department spent more than $232,000 last year and used just 4,000 tons of salt, said Clark County Engineer John Burr.
“Based on supply and demand, this year far outpaced the supply, not just here, but statewide,” Burr said.
The cost per ton for road salt was $55.18 this year, down from $58.13 last year.
A decade ago, the cost per ton was $33.20. The cost per ton jumped from $48 to $65.54 as a result of heavy snow from the 2007-08 to 2008-09 seasons.
Burr said this winter was one of the toughest on his department.
“This year we didn’t have a big snowfall. There were many little snows, therefore we used more material,” Burr said.
About 50.4 inches of snow fell in the Miami Valley region this winter, the third most in history, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Allen Randall. The 1977-78 winter season remains the snowiest on record, with 62.7 inches of snow measured. The second-snowiest was 54.8 inches in the 1950-51 season.
Randall said the continued snowfall was the result of a persistent jet stream from the northwest that brought multiple lighter snowfalls that were six inches or less.
He said additional snow may come in the upcoming weeks.
“I think we can get some more now. I can’t rule that out,” said Randall. “It looks like it will turn colder next week. But we’re in the latter part of March and even if it does snow, there won’t be much accumulation.”
Burr said he has about 800 tons of mixed grit and 400 tons of salt remaining and expects to soon contract for another 5,000 tons of salt for next winter.
He said the engineer’s office provided 870 tons of salt to Pleasant, Harmony, Green, Madison, German townships and to area villages.
His office will get reimbursed about $1,000 for the salt supplied to those areas.
“It’s just not feasible for those places to have their own garage,” Burr said.
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