Neshannock Township may go from sprinkling seasonings to spraying vegetable essence on roads this winter.
Township supervisors, meeting Wednesday, heard that anticipated road salt shortages in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware have driven up the price of road salt to $145 per ton.
Last winter, the township used 1,600 tons of road salt and paid $37 per ton, spending $59,000.
At the new price, that amount of salt will cost the township $232,000 � if they can even get it, according to Supervisor John DiCola Jr.
As director of public services, DiCola�s duties include road repairs and plowing snow.
COUNCIL WOES
DiCola, who is Neshannock�s representative on the Lawrence County Council of Governments, said the high price of road salt dominated this week�s council meeting.
The council of governments helps its members obtain low prices for commodities, including road salt, through joint purchases.
However, when the solicited 11 companies for bids in July, it got no takers, he said. When a second request for bids went out, the council got one response � $145 per ton.
An alternate bid offered salt at $89 per ton plus freight, according to DiCola, who added a local freight hauler informed him it will cost $40 to $45 per ton to haul the salt from its location in Maryland to Lawrence County.
Last year, the council of governments paid $47 per delivered ton for salt.
DiCola said the salt shortage is widespread, surprising Supervisor Gale Measel.
�I was always told that salt is an inexhaustible commodity, that the supply will never run out,� he said.
That changed this year, DiCola noted.
�Our supplier, in Illinois, is not exporting salt to other states this year.�
SEARCH FOR SALT
DiCola said he had spoken with former New Castle mayor Tim Fulkerson, now director of marketing and constituent relations with the Pennsylvania Department of General Services.
�He said 2,567 municipalities across Pennsylvania are looking for salt,� DiCola noted.
In January, he continued, 1,100 municipalities agreed to �piggyback� with the state to buy salt but many, including the council, balked because the price was higher than in the past seven to eight years.
Fulkerson also is developing a Web site matching municipalities that have surplus salt with municipalities with none, DiCola said, �if they come and get it.�
He is considering other options, he explained, which include mixing available salt with anti-skid materials such as sand and liquid calcium chloride. The township used this last year at $1 per gallon, he said, and snow plows were equipped with 60-gallon tanks.
DiCola also said he is looking at a road deicer treatment made with beet juice and brine. This substance must be sprayed on highways prior to snowfall. He said the process was tested last winter in the Akron-Canton area.
�We would have to buy new equipment to try it,� DiCola said.
Neshannock, Mahoning and Wayne townships have agreed to participate in the council�s bid from Cargill Deicer Technology of Minneapolis, to purchase a magnesium liquid salt compound called Clearlane, for $64 per ton, DiCola said.
�We are guaranteed 900 tons.�
CUSTOMARY SERVICE
�Our residents won�t be seeing the level of service they are accustomed to seeing,� DiCola said. �In the past, we spoiled our residents because we could. Now we have issues which include the significantly higher cost of salt.�
Measel commended DiCola for acting to secure salt now.
If there is a shortage, Measel said, the township will have to consider public safety.
�If there is a heavy snowfall, the township may have to prioritize what roads will be plowed and advise people to stay home,� he said.
Measel also advised working with the school district.
DiCola said he is developing a plan that considers low or limited salt supplies.
�If worse comes to worst, we can use sand,� Measel said.
That may not solve the problem, DiCola noted. �Even sand is up by $5 per ton.�
The supervisors Wednesday agreed to purchase anti-skid material from Troy Sand and Gravel for $11.75 per ton plus $5.50 for delivery.
�Maybe people will have to start buying studded tires, like in the 1970s,� suggested Supervisor Ralph Sheen.
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