By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

Maine towns and counties will get $8.5 million worth of federal help in paying for costs of four major snowstorms in January, February and March.

Androscoggin County looks to receive $797,336 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the cost of salt, sand, fuel for plowing trucks and overtime for drivers.

Lewiston will get $198,622 for the storms while Auburn gets $152,026.

“It was a banner year for expenses, so this really helps,” said Paul Boudreau, Lewiston’s public works director. Lewiston normally budgets for 10 plowable snowstorms, Boudreau said. Last winter it had 29, including the four storms for which it received federal assistance.

In all, Lewiston spent $283,181 more than it had budgeted for plowing operations.

“So this leaves us still about $90,000 over our budget,” Boudreau said. “But, when you consider the kind of winter we had and the services that we provided, we did pretty good.”

The storms dumped 102 inches of snow by the end of March, according to the National Weather Service’s Portland monitoring station. Much of it fell during four major storms: on Jan. 22 and 23, Feb. 10 and 11, March 9 and March 11 and 12.

FEMA announced in April that it would help Maine communities to defray the costs of digging out.

“Most of the money has already been distributed, so this is the last distribution we are expecting,” said Steve Burgess, deputy director of Maine Emergency Management Agency.

Communities in Oxford County will get $686,336 in federal aid for their storm operations. Franklin County and its communities will get $241,268 in FEMA aid.

Cumberland County received the most aid, getting $2.87 million from FEMA. State agencies picked up $1.65 million for its plowing and sanding operations.

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