Politics & Government

Last Week's Snow Storm Cost Milford $55K

Most of storm-related expenses go to OT and outside help.

More than 600 hours of overtime helped run up the cost of last week’s snow storm – the first true winter event of the season in Milford – to about $55,000, according to Mayor Ben Blake.

“This was a pretty significant one; it was a near-blizzard,” Blake said of a blustery, frigid storm that felled about eight inches of snow locally.

“Our public works did a fantastic job responding to the storm,” he said. “They worked around the clock. We threw everything at this storm.”

Blake said the storm cost the city some $22,000 for 640 hours of overtime pay for public works employees; about $25,000 for 140 hours of work from private contractors; and about $7,500 for the cost of salt and sand.

Responsible for those expenses is the operating budget of the public works highway and parks division. This winter’s budget allocates $100,000 for overtime; $60,000 for snow removal; $45,000 for sand; and $30,000 for “ice control expense.”

The mayor said there’s also a “special storm reserve account” that the city can tap into if funds from the operating budget become depleted. Currently, that account holds more than $200,000, he said.

The bulk of the reserve account consists of reimbursement funds from FEMA for municipal costs incurred during and after the big blizzard last February that dropped upwards of three feet of snow in the area.

Blake said the local cost for that historic storm approached half a million dollars. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, reimbursed 75 percent of eligible costs for 72 hours of cleaning, he said.


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