By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

The steady march of winter storms across central Maine has left road salt supplies low, according to local officials.

Lewiston and Auburn have enough salt left in their supplies to handle a storm expected this weekend. It gets dicey after that, however.

“If we have a storm this weekend, we’re covered,” said Auburn Public Works Director Bob Belz. “But we’ll need another delivery of salt if we have another storm next weekend, and I guess that’s getting difficult.”

Lewiston normally budgets for 10 significant storms each winter, setting aside enough salt and sand to clean up the roads each time – plus a little extra. But there have been 18 significant storms this winter. And it’s not over yet.

“If the pattern continues, we could have four or five more storms this winter,” said Lewiston Public Works Director Paul Boudreau. “We’d rather see two or three more. I think we could handle that.”

Forecasters are calling for more snow today and Saturday, with flurries continuing through the weekend. Another storm is possible next weekend.

“It’s not the size of the storm that’s the problem,” Boudreau said. Road crews were out two or three times weekly throughout January and February, cleaning up after low-snowfall “nuisance” storms.

“You still have to get out there and clean up,” he said. “When you go out twice a week, it really starts adding up.”

Lewiston budgets about 5,500 tons of road salt for an average winter. About half of that is kept in storage, and the city restocks after each storm, Boudreau said. So far this winter, road crews have used about 8,000 tons.

Auburn Public Works budgets for 3,800 tons of salt for the winter, but has already used 4,300, said Belz.

Both cities have agreed to buy their salt through Morton Salt in New Hampshire for $41.80 per ton. At that rate, Lewiston’s budget for salt has gone from $229,900 to $334,400. Auburn’s budget has gone from $144,000 to nearly $180,000.

“And that doesn’t take other costs into account,” Belz said. Costs for fuel to run the snow-moving equipment as well as overtime are just as much over budget.

“As it stands right now, we are over budget. (But) we have reserves we’ve been able to move around,” Belz said. “But if we continue to get more storms, our entire budget will be in overdraft. Then we’ll have to start using the city’s financial reserves, and we don’t want to do that.”

Both are planning to order more salt. Boudreau said he confirmed an order for an additional 500 tons Thursday morning and Belz said he was planning to order another 200 tons before this weekend’s storm.

“It’s expensive, but so is the alternative,” Belz said. “If you look at our costs, they are pretty high. But they’re not as high as the costs of the average accident. So, when you equate it to public safety, it’s not that big a number.”