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While Washington County residents have been shoveling out their driveways, raking off roofs and looking forward to spring, municipal administrators are facing over‑taxed budgets and dwindling supplies of sand and salt. The January and February snowstorms -- which left municipalities such as Eastport reeling under the weight of 11 feet of snow in just one month -- are creating budgetary stresses and potential challenges if spring thaws are accompanied by heavy or multiple days of rain and a run of warm weather.
Washington County Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Hinerman holds the big picture of how the county as a whole is doing when faced with such challenges; he says that, overall, municipalities did a good job getting through the storms given the volume of snow that fell. While it took all hands on deck -- with public works crews joined by contractors, Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) help and volunteers -- as well as a lot of patience on the part of snowed-in residents who were contemplating huge drifts and plowed snow blocking their driveways, Hinerman notes that public works and ambulance and fire crews were ready to go into emergency mode if necessary.
Town budgets strained
Machias' three‑man public works crew and an on‑call winter plow driver were joined by about six additional contractors. While the town usually relies on a regular set of snow‑removal contractors to help, this time many were already over‑taxed with running their own businesses. Machias Town Manager Chris Loughlin says that the overtime budget is typically about $4,000. It is now at $7,000. "It's $5,000 for the part‑time driver. We're over that now," Loughlin says. In addition, the salt and sand budget of $25,000 will most likely rise to $31,000, and contracted services have broken above the $10,000 line-item mark.
In Calais, the eight‑member public works department "did a tremendous job," says City Manager Jim Porter. He adds that they worked "under very difficult conditions in keeping the streets and sidewalks open and safe. They also have assisted the water company, who has seen an extraordinary number of water breaks this winter." The city used several contractors one day to cut down snow banks at intersections that were becoming unsafe because of short sight distances. Porter says, "We have nearly exhausted our winter overtime line at this point. The salt and sand piles are at about 80% spent." He notes that the public works budget is "nearly all used up."
Eastport and Lubec were hit very hard by the snowfall, with neither community particularly interested in winning the contest for the most amount of snow.
Lubec Town Administrator John Sutherland says that the public works budget is "dwindling rapidly," but with the sand and salt supplies "we're OK." A total of four contractors were used to help the town's crew, not to mention countless volunteers, and MDOT sent two dump trucks and a loader to help remove some of the snow. "Public works rose to the occasion," Sutherland says. "They went above and beyond to get the roads open."
Just over the bay in Eastport, the public works budget is at 74% spent for the year, although City Manager Elaine Abbott notes, as did Sutherland, that not all the bills have come in yet from the last storm. "I anticipate that we'll be over budget," Abbott says. Like Lubec, the sand and salt situation is "pretty well set" unless another major series of storms wallops the island city. Along with paying for some additional help and equipment rentals for plowing and snow removal, the city had two contractors assist as well as staff from the Eastport Port Authority and Passamaquoddy Water District and a large number of volunteers. She notes that workers from the port authority and the water district had their first 40 hours of work clearing snow paid for by their own organizations, with the city picking up costs above the 40 hours.
The Unorganized Territories budget is unaffected by the additional snow removal work because it has a four- to five-year contract in place for such work. UT Supervisor Dean Preston says that, overall, the costs to the UT usually even out for the contractor, with some winters having less snow than others. If Preston had needed to bring in bigger equipment for additional work such as large drifts, then the UT budget would need to consider an increase. So far, he notes, the UT has not encountered any of those issues this winter.
Federal assistance not likely
While social media was atwitter with comments about calling in the National Guard to help after news stories about 55 Maine National Guard units being called out to help in Boston, Hinerman explains that having a unit come in takes time and money. Quite often by the time a unit comes in to help, the municipality has already taken care of the bulk of the snow and hasn't the financial resources to be spending on such assistance. He says he spoke with a municipality that told him just exactly that.
However, Hinerman adds that he is in the county to handle questions about emergency assistance and can refer municipalities or individuals to the right process to follow. "It's important to follow the process," he advises. "It's town to county to state. The chain of command needs to be followed."
The chain of command process is just as important with the application for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds. The odds aren't looking good for receiving FEMA funds for the storm expenses, Hinerman says. "FEMA doesn't usually pay for just snow and how it affects county and town budgets. There are a lot of rules about how they look at snowstorms. It has to be confirmed as historical by the weather service, and that in itself takes time."
Current FEMA rules dictate that a snowstorm emergency has to cover a 48‑hour period, whereas the series of storms in Washington County fell over a greater time period. Hinerman explains, "Several of the snow states have been working on the 48‑hour rule for over a year. It's still in process and won't do anything for this year, and we don't know what the rule will look like."
In a letter sent on February 18 urging FEMA to provide relief to Washington County municipalities, Senators Susan Collins and Angus King wrote, "These back‑to‑back storms and accompanying single‑digit and subzero temperatures have required extraordinary measures to clear roads, streets and bridges, and to provide basic services to residents, particularly in many of the towns in the eastern part of the county. The storms have also severely taxed already stretched municipal snow removal budgets, equipment and personnel." In a subsequent release issued on February 24, Collins notes that she has had an additional conversation with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate asking that he reassess the policy that would exclude Washington County from federal assistance to deal with the record‑breaking amount of snow this winter. Administrator Fugate has agreed to reconsider the policy. Collins says, "I am encouraged by my positive conversation with Administrator Fugate and will continue to push for the assistance that is so greatly needed."
Concern for spring thaw flooding
The large amounts of snow around the county mean potential challenges for the spring thaw. Hinerman is concerned and says he will be contacting municipalities about precautionary measures they and individuals should take. "There's a lot of snow on the ground, and there's a lot of extra work involved in having crews punch holes in the snow banks to allow melting water to find a way to run." He adds, "Basically, we need to look ahead and control the water flow in the spring." He encourages towns to push back banks so that water will have run‑off paths. Having a shelter plan in place in case people are flooded out of their homes is never a bad idea, he adds.
In addition, Hinerman advises that buildings with snow built up on roofs should be shoveled off. A cubic foot of snow can range in weight from seven to over 20 pounds, with rain on snow increasing the weight substantially before it starts to run off. A cubic foot of water weighs about 63 pounds. If snow melt is causing ice dams at the roof edges, once those dams reach the 4-5" height they can start to cause house leaks -- yet another reason to get the snow off, Hinerman says.
And drivers need to be careful, he adds. It can be difficult to impossible to gauge the depth of puddles caused by snow melt at the base of hills. If a puddle is where a culvert or other drainage device is located, there is always the possibility of failure and that under the puddle lurks a wash‑out, which could be quite deep.
Preston is concerned about spring flooding in the UT, which has been an ongoing issue for three to four years. "We've had a number of non‑traditional storms." The weather events have challenged drainage systems and culverts. "I hope it's a slow melt," he adds.
While Machias and Calais are not as concerned about flooding, with both managers noting that a lot of drainage work has been done over the past few years, Eastport and Lubec share more of the UT concerns. Sutherland says that, while the crew has pushed the banks back, "If we have a sudden, fast thaw, then we'd have some trouble."
Abbott says, "The amount of snow removed has helped, but spring flooding is still a concern." She adds, "All we can do right now is to keep the catch basins open. If anyone sees, as the snow melts, that a catch basin is clogged, let the city know." |
