LEWISTON — Spring budget cuts could mean slower plowing on some city roads this winter during especially heavy snowstorms.

Highway Operations Manager John Elie told city councilors Tuesday that plows won’t be delayed for storms with average snowfalls.

“I don’t think it’s going to be much of a problem for storms that pass quickly,” Elie said. “Where we get into problems is the long, drawn-out storms, and those will be delayed.”

The city plows 394 lane miles of road each storm, with an average of 13 plowable snowstorms per winter and 37 storms requiring sanding and de-icing.

Last year the city plowed 22 routes — 17 with city employees and five with private contractors.

Councilors voted to cut $70,000 from the Public Works budget this spring that had been set aside to pay private contractors to plow five routes during each storm.

Elie said the city roads are being divided into 19 routes this year. Like years past, the city will run two teams of plows. The largest will work in 16-hour shifts. They’ll be replaced by the smaller team.

“We have to do that for safety,” Elie said. “We can’t have people operating really heavy equipment much beyond that.”

The five private contractor routes have been absorbed into the city routes, adding an average of 6 miles to 10 in-town routes. As a result, those routes will take longer, between 90 minutes to three hours each time the city plows them.

“During the long, drawn-out storm we may have to plow each route three or four times,” Elie said. “So, you can see how that adds up. A big storm, it could add an additional 12 hours per route.”

Elie said he wasn’t worried and assured councilors that all city roads would be plowed.

“But we need to warn you that we are going to get calls saying, ‘Where are the plows?'” Elie said. “You just need to know that they may be slower, but they will get there.”

Mayor Larry Gilbert said it’s a sacrifice that had to be made.

“It’s a change that we just have to adapt to,” Gilbert said. “It’s a function of the economic times we live in. We had to do this to balance the budget last year and we’re not done. We’re not out of this yet. We’re going to face the same situation next year.”

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