Winter weather has meant sand and salt costs are up for this time of year, says Puslinch Road Superintendant Don Creed.
Mayor Dennis Lever referred to the costs during part of Puslinch council’s meeting on April 3. The roads accounts for March came in with a listing from Wellington County for sand and salt amounting to $63,536.
“Presumably we pay for that at cost,” asked Lever.
Creed clarified that whatever the cost is, that is what the township is being billed.
Councillor Jerry Schmidt asked if that was in addition to the brine costs.
Recently the township chose the path of using brine as an experimental means of controlling ice on local roads.
Schmidt considered the cost comparison of using the two approaches favours the brine approach.
“It’s been quite a challenging winter since January,” Creed said. As far as costs, Creed added, that comparatively Puslinch has spent more on sand and salt in the first three months of 2013 than for the entire year in 2012. “That’s just the nature of the beast – the weather.” Creed said the township has experienced really good results using the brine.
At the same time, there are a few items that still need to be tweaked, Creed said.
When asked if he was happy Spring was here, Creed responded, “is it?”
