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[Michaelangelica]

Long, Snowy Winter Shrinks Salt Supplies
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Filed under: MILWAUKEE , EMILY FREDRIX , Salt Shortage

(AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)
A Milwaukee County plow clears a street in this, Feb. 6, 2008, file photo, in Wauwatosa, Wis. From Maine, to Iowa and Wisconsin, the unusually snowy winter means dozens of communities are facing dwindling salt supplies and blown snow removal budgets.
Feb 15, 2008 3:51 AM (1 day ago) By EMILY FREDRIX, AP

MILWAUKEE (Map, News) - From Maine to Iowa and beyond, the unusually snowy winter has left dozens of communities with dwindling salt supplies and blown snow removal budgets - five weeks before the official start of spring.
Davenport started the winter with 9,000 tons of salt and has used 14,000 tons so far. The city ordered an additional 1,800 tons, which cost between $90 and $125 a ton, as much as triple the cost of earlier orders, she said.

Orders started arriving Tuesday. Still, Bruemmer said she's never been this worried about salt in her 15 years as public works director.

"We're not producing the kind of effect that we'd like to and that's disappointing for us," she said. "We've never not met our goal of having all the streets cleared and that's a hard thing for us."

It's also expensive. The city set aside $580,000 for snow removal this winter. Bruemmer figures it'll cost about $1.3 million.

Long, Snowy Winter Shrinks Salt Supplies - Examiner.com