Just a few degrees could be the difference between wet roads, icy roads, or snow-covered roads. Thanks to our mild winter any snow we get should melt fairly quickly which only helps save the city money.
Sunday night sanding trucks were loaded and are ready to hit the road when needed on Monday. The normal crew will be reporting to work Monday even though it's a holiday. If we get more than two inches of snow that's when the city will start plowing and more crews might be called in.
Usually during our tough winters the ground temperature gets very cold so anytime snow falls it just sticks to the ground. This year any snow we have gotten has not hung around for long. Galynn Huber the Sioux Falls Street Fleet Manager says normally the city of Sioux Falls gets around 43 inches of snow every winter. So far this winter he says the city has only gotten 9 inches.
We all remember how brutal the winters of 2009 and 2010 were but that clearly has not been the case at all this year which may lead to the city saving some money. A report on how much the Street Department and other departments saved last fiscal year is expected to be given to the mayor on Tuesday.
The Street Department says in December of 2009 and 2010 the department had to spend $2 million and $3 million just in December for those two years. That has not been the case at all this year. However, November and December of 2011 are in the last fiscal year and January February and March of 2012 are in this fiscal year. The city did turn money back in from last year which again will be officially reported on Tuesday, but the Street Department will need to see what next November and December brings to see if we will have any savings in this fiscal year.
