After the recent blockbuster snow storm, City officials expect costs of snow and ice removal in Newton to surpass their $5 million budget as expenditures continue to rise.
The City Council’s Finance Committee unanimously approved the recommendation to transfer an additional $1.5 million from the snow and ice reserve in the Comptroller’s budget, a change that Chief Financial Officer Maureen Lemieux said remains within the City’s planned budgeting goals.
“My expectation would be that this is at least a million-dollar snowstorm, probably a few hundred thousand dollars above that,” Lemieux said during the February 23 committee meeting. “I cannot imagine that we are going to end this winter within a $5 million appropriation.”
Lemieux noted that the City spends approximately $100,000 per inch of snow on removal costs, so the yearly $5 million budget comes from an average of around 54 inches of annual snowfall.
If snow-removal funds are fully depleted, future costs would likely be covered by the City’s Certified Free Cash fund, Lemieux said. The City’s Free Cash reserve consists largely of unallocated or unspent funds from the previous year that are often used for one-time expenses or projects that are not accounted for during initial yearly budgeting.
Martha Bixby, Ward 6 City Councilor and vice-chair of the Finance Committee, said Free Cash is often used for infrastructural projects that lack dedicated funding.
“We did a roof repair project to the school or other things that are needed projects that can kind of be crossed off the list,” Bixby said. “Often it’s a good question for things like snowfall as well.”
This year’s costs for snow and ice removal —at around $4 million prior to Monday’s winter storm— have already exceeded those of 2023 and 2024, and are approaching 2022’s near $5 million costs. In years with lower costs for snow removal, the Comptroller’s reserve fund is often allocated to paving roads or other infrastructural projects, Lemieux said.
The Finance Committee plans to continue increasing the Department of Public Works budget for snow and ice removal in coming years, Lemieux said.
While fees in snow-removal contracts with outside companies several years ago were scaled by inch of snow removed, contractor invoices now generally specify pay based on time worked and materials used, Lemieux said. In some cases, particularly for hand-shoveling contracts, the City may still implement a pay-by-the-inch model, she added.
Bixby commended contractors and members of the community for their efforts to curb the impact of this historic winter storm.
“I know everybody’s working really hard and managing a tremendous amount of snow, which we haven’t had in a long time,” Bixby said. “I’m really grateful for how hard everybody’s working.”
Jeff Debonee, owner of Sandwich Works on Beacon Street – one of only a few businesses in Newton Centre that stayed open during Monday’s winter storm – said Newton’s snow removal work was “as good, if not better” than any of the towns he drove through on his way back to Ashland after leaving his store.
“It’s a ton of snow, and they’re working 36-hour shifts without any breaks, or, you know, little breaks,” Debonee said. “I think they’re doing a good job.”
