NORWAY – Highway Superintendent Ron Springer said Friday that equipment breakdowns and lack of salt are some of the problems his crew is encountering this winter as they try to clean snow and ice.

“We’re trying to get ahead,” he said. “We’d like to get caught up and put some salt down if we could get some salt,” said Springer, who has only a few three-yard buckets of salt left. The problem is not unique to Norway but to nearly every town in the area that normally gets its supply from a company in Portland. They are being referred to a company in southern New Hampshire

“We’ve used more than usual. These last few years it’s been easy. These storms got ahead of us,” he said.

Additionally, the grader, which plows roads and pushes snow off the back roads using a wing tip, is out of service for the next three weeks for repairs. The town has been offered temporary use of its old grader by the company who took it in trade for the new one.

The worst roads are the side streets and back roads where ice has built up, Springer said. Salt was put down on and before the storms on the main roads such as Route 26 allowing them to clear fairly easily, but the back roads are a problem.

Meanwhile, the winter has taken a toll on the Highway Department’s budget. “The budget’s pretty weak,” he said. “Overtime has really killed us.”

Certain line items such as overtime and maintenance are over budget, he said.

Springer said the good news is that the men and women have had a week or so to rest up in between storms. “They’ve recuperated after last week,” he said. “They had a good weekend to rest up.”