Just how much salt will the county Road Commission use on county and state roads this winter?

According to manager/superintendent Herb Cradduck, the commission started the 2007-08 winter season with 3,000 tons of salt in its sheds in Suttons Bay and Maple City.

“We’ve gone through most of that, but have scheduled in shipments, 300 tons here, 500 tons there. We’ve added another 2,100 tons since November,” he said, adding the commission is on track to use more than 5,000 tons this year, which would be just above an average winter.

In addition to the salt order, Cradduck said Sunday morning’s ice storm also caused some changes. He said all plow trucks had to be fitted with tire chains to safely navigate the ice-covered roads.

“This made for slow going and the guys were out for eight to nine hours on Sunday,” he said. On Sunday alone, Cradduck said plow drivers went through 1,000 yards of salt and sand.

Fortunately, he said, getting sand from different gravel pits the Road Commission owns is a convenient option.

Cradduck said while funding is always a problem, he and clerk Joe Nedow focus their attention on reducing costs when possible.

“A lot of it has to do with the weather. If we have a bad winter, we have to have the guys out there clearing the roads and that means more costs,” Nedow said.

For 2007, the Road Commission spent a little over $1.2 million on winter maintenance for county and state roads. For snow removal on local county roads (those not numbered), the commission spent $521,350.25. It also spent $286,995.82 for county’s numbered primary roads for a total of $808,346.07.

The Road Commission contracts with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to plow and maintain state roads and highways within the county. For plowing and other winter maintenance activities in 2007, the Road Commission spent about $410,000, all of which was reimbursed by the state.

Nedow said he expects the commission to spend about $522,000 for county road winter maintenance for 2008, about the same as 2007. “Again, it all depends on the weather,” he said.

Cradduck said this winter has been unusual in that there really hasn’t been a big break in the weather. “We did have that warm-up at the end of December, but even then we had mornings where there was ice on the roads that we had to put down salt and sand. It’s been pretty constant,” he said.

Also at its meeting Tuesday, the county Road Commission approved ballot language for renewal of its two-year, half-mill property tax levy. Since 1986 county voters have approved the half-mill property tax levy every two years as a supplement to the commission’s annual budget. The original purpose of the millage was to fund “extra” winter maintenance costs, such as plowing county roads on weekends. For 2007, the half-mill property tax generated $990,000. The ballot language is now more broad so that the commission may use the millage funds for other county road maintenance purposes.