The Cupboard's Bare: Woodbridge has Run Through Its $600,000 Snow Budget
The McCormac administration says they'll move money around to cover future snow clean-ups
The township's $600,000 snow removal fund has run dry.
Ever since the Christmas blizzard of last year, Woodbridge and the rest of the area has been pelted by snowfalls that have totaled up to almost three feet of snow. That snowfall has to be moved, and that means men, machinery, and lots of overtime.
"We've run through it. We'll be looking at other sources to fund snow removal," said town spokesman John Hagerty.
The blizzard in December cost the town approximately $280,000 to clean up. The most recent storm, which dumped a foot of snow on Woodbridge last week, cost about $250,000, Hagerty said.
The McCormac administration will be for ways to move money around to pay for future snow clean-ups, if the barrage of snow so far is any indication it'll be a long, snowbound winter.
Budget officials are looking for ways they can cut costs, Hagerty said: "But we're pretty lean and mean right now. We'll see if we can cut non-essential programs if they exist."
The administration is anticipating more employee retirements in the near future, and that money can be moved from salary accounts to the snow removal fund with council approval, he said.
The one bright spot in the spate of snowstorms plaguing Woodbridge is that the township isn't in danger of running out of salt. "We belong to a county co-op where we purchase it," Hagerty said. "We have all the salt we're ever going to need."
Tom Maras
8:10 am on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Perhaps, I missed it, but didn’t Woodbridge file for FEMA disaster monies for the storm damage last March? Carteret did and they already have their FEMA payment (see below).
Did Woodbridge file with FEMA for that storm and, if so, where is our money? Seems like we could really use it right about now!
For Immediate Release
Press Advisory / Photo Op
Office of Mayor Daniel J. Reiman
Department of Public Information
Memorial Municipal Building
61 Cooke Avenue
Carteret, New Jersey, 07008
732-541-3801 (phone)
732-541-4989 (fax)
Carteret receives $82,000
in FEMA disaster relief funding
[Carteret] Mayor Dan Reiman has announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has reimbursed Carteret $82,000 for emergency service and damage costs related to the Nor’easter of March-April 2010.
WBwatchdog
9:38 am on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Wish we had the $200,000.00 we spent on the useless snow melter!
nemohgod
10:21 am on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
WBwatchdog, I was about to say that the investment on a snow melter was something that should have been done after the season was over if we had the extra funds in the end and not before or during the season, you beat me to it. That melter costs 200K and now what?
MrDoughnut
10:32 am on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Have the undocumented illegals shovel it by hand an tell them you'll notify ICE of their where abouts if they do not.
MrDoughnut
10:35 am on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
If you need a place to remove the snow to you can use dump trucks an take the snow to the Golf Course.
MrDoughnut
10:48 am on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
We must be getting the kind of snow that created all the creeks and ponds seen in the History of Iselin photos. I remember the flooding we use to get years ago on Green Street and the Route 35 area. This snow is going to meld with all the spring rains possibly creating more water then the flood mitagation can handle. I wonder if the Home Depot will see the same floods that plagued the old Foodtown and Bradlees on St George. Freeman's Pond may see the most water it ever has seen.
MrDoughnut
11:00 am on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
There has never been so much snow in such a short time around this long. I am surprised the Sled and Toboggan manufacturers haven't taken advantage of this snowfall hitting a large part of the US. After all it was the declining snowfall during the 1970's that caused the financial problems which caused the production of sleds and other related items to dwindle to practically nothing. I still have some film footage of all the sleigh and toboggan riders enjoying the Gallopping Hills Golf course in Kenilworth when we use to get a lot of snow way back when. Of course there were lawsuits back then as some people were killed like in Roosevelt Park when some young girl's sled hit a park bench support.
MrDoughnut
11:09 am on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Has any one given a thought to the consequences of continued parcipatation from now through the spring? All this water will have to go somewhere. All those sink holes where depris was dumped years ago may cave in. All thosen buried unforseen shells and other ammo from WWI and WWII are going to come to the surface. We may have some more trees topple over!