A hike in the cost of rock salt used to keep Maine roads clear can be blamed on industrial development in China and high oil prices, say local officials.

Both Lewiston and Auburn have locked in prices for their winter supply of road salt – $41.80 per ton.

“We had known for months that costs were going to be high, primarily because of higher transportation costs,” said Auburn Public Works Director Bob Belz. “So we made adjustments in our budgets going in.”

Still, the current price for salt is $9.15 more per ton than the cities paid last year, said Fergus Lea, planning director for the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments. The council acts as the central buyer for road salt for towns and cities in Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties.

Member communities agreed to buy 35,000 tons of rock salt from Morton Salt this year. In Androscoggin County, Lewiston agreed to take 6,000 tons. Auburn agreed to take 3,800 tons.

AVCOG locked in its price in August, after prices had started to rise. In Lewiston, Auburn and neighboring communities in the southern part of AVCOG’s region, the price is $41.80 per ton. In the northern territory, north of Livermore Falls, municipalities pay more – $45.96 per ton.

“The difference is due to transportation costs, as we move from the south on up,” Lea said. “The further north you go, the more you end up paying.”

State prices for non-AVCOG western Maine communities average $48.98 per ton.

Last year, AVCOG bartered a price of $32.65 per ton for its southern communities and $36.81 for its northern communities. Some towns decided to seek a better deal on their own. Those communities wound up with prices $6 per ton higher than AVCOG’s deal, Lea said.

“We figure we save our members about 10 percent,” Lea said.

Ship shortage

Lea blamed part of the price increase on a shortage of ships to carry the mineral to the United States from South American mines.

“Some say that’s because of industrial growth in China. Others say it’s because of the war in Iraq,” Lea said. “No matter what, there appears to be a shortage of ships to transport it.”

Gasoline and diesel fuel costs to truck the salt from the boats to the cities is also more expensive.

Demand is also an issue, Lea said. “In Maine, we’re using more salt each year.”

Drivers today demand clean roads almost as soon as a winter storm ends, and most cities around the country try to accommodate them. Local public works directors agree that it’s not possible to get a Maine road clear quickly without using salt.

Road sand adds traction but it winds up making the snow and ice stay around longer. Salt keeps ice from forming, allowing crews to clear the roads more quickly.

AVCOG’s order was up 3,000 tons from last year and 13,000 tons from 10 years ago, Lea said.

The price increases have hurt. Lewiston Public Works Director Paul Boudreau said his department was one that tried to beat AVCOG’s price.

“There just wasn’t any way we could find a better price,” Boudreau said.

In Auburn, the price increase amounted to an additional $35,000, Belz said. His staff is reacting by double-checking how much salt gets put on area roads.

“No salt should go on a gravel road,” Belz said. “It just doesn’t need it. But we know we had drivers that might have a 500-foot section of gravel on their route, so they’d just go ahead.”

He is making sure that doesn’t happen this year, Belz said.