Snow drains village money, salt

The heavy snowfall this winter is starting to deplete not only the village’s budget, but its stockpile of salt as well.

The Village of Rockville Centre had budgeted $256,000 for snow removal for the year and has already spent $197,693 — and that will only rise as the snow keeps falling.

In addition to the budget, the village has been depleting its reserve of salt, which is used for de-icing roads. During the storm that hit the area last week, the village used 70 tons of salt. But during larger storms, it could use upward of 300 tons.

At the end of last week’s storm, before the weekend snow hit, the village had less than 50 tons of salt left. But the village was able to get more.

“We were able to get a couple of truckloads from the state,” said Village Administrator Keith Spadaro. “So hopefully we’re good for the next couple of weeks.”

The supplemental salt from the state brought the village’s total to about 120 tons. Spadaro said the village can spread that further by mixing it with sand.