When Pottsville had its first major snowfall of the season last week, the streets department was well prepared.
"It was not too bad early Tuesday," Dan Kelly, superintendent of streets for the city, said Wednesday. "The temperature went up and melted most of it in the afternoon."
The winter maintenance budget was set at $80,000 for 2013, according to City Administrator Thomas A. Palamar. The budget for the upcoming year is about $76,000, he said.
"We budgeted a little bit less because we used a little bit less," Palamar said Wednesday.
The budgets are based on an average of the last three years, Palamar said.
The city has about 125 tons of salt left over from last year, Kelly said Wednesday.
"It was a fairly average winter," Kelly said. "It would snow, then warm up before snowing again. Last year, we didn't even need snow removal. Usually, we have to hire contractors depending on snow."
Kelly said salt is ordered on an as-needed basis and the shed holds about 200 tons. Kelly said he will probably order more this week.
"As winter goes on, we will mix the salt with anti-skid materials in the larger trucks," Kelly said.
Coal ashes are used as anti-skid, which is spread over heavily plowed roads or when it is extremely cold.
The city has a total of 12 trucks, each with a spitter box for salt and a snow plow. A few of them were out last week.
"Some days last year, all of them were used," Kelly said. "It all depends on the storms."
Snow is much easier to clean up than rain or sleet, Kelly said.
"You go through more material because when you put it down, the rain just washes it away," he said.
The city used about 1,100 tons of salt last year, Palamar said. Salt is put out for bid when supply gets low, Palamar said.
"It really depends on the winter we have," Palamar said. "We don't stock pile a lot."
The cost of salt for 2013 was $61.25 a ton. The cost went down for 2014 to $56.99.
The streets department has 17 employees, including Kelly, Palamar said. Last year, they accumulated about 65 hours of overtime, Palamar said.
It will get warmer this week before there are chances of rain and snow showers into the weekend, according to the National Weather Service at State College. Today's high will be 42 degrees and temperatures will continue to climb to 50 degrees on Thursday, according to the NWS. Temperatures will then dip into the 30s with a 40 percent chance of rain Friday and a 30 percent chance of rain and snow showers Saturday, according to the NWS.
There will be a 40 percent chance of snow showers Dec. 9 and 10.