Politics & Government

City's Snow Budget Wiped Out

And they haven't finished tallying the cost of Wednesday's storm.

Wondering where Cranston's snow budget stands?

One word: spent.

The city's total snow budget for this year was $635,000 and a $250,000 reserve has all been spent.

But Chief of Staff Carlos Lopez said the inevitable deficit in the snow budget can be resolved at the end of the fiscal year by adjusting other line items in the overall budget.

"The reality is some line items end up under, some end up over, so we can make adjustments to balance it out," Lopez said.

The city doesn't have a separate bank account just for paying city workers and contractors to plow and sand streets. The "snow budget" in reality is a marker in the annual budget that sets aside a figure the city expects to spend in one year. 

Lopez said the depleted snow budget did not take into account this past snow storm and with the potential for more storms on the horizon, it's likely that the total cost of snow plowing and cleanup will exceed $1 million by spring.


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