Snow Costing Andover $1.63 Million…So Far

The sun is shining and people are out enjoying the beautiful weather in downtown. But the public works department is finally able to take a rest after five weeks of seemingly constant snow.

Andover Highway Department superintendent Chris Cronin said that they are still working to widen various streets throughout town but said that they need to wait before they can begin repairing pavement.

“There’s not a heck of a lot we can do,” said Cronin.

He said that his crews have been clearing the snow where they can and been keeping catch basins clear so the melting snow can drain.

“We are focusing now on roads that are narrow and scraping the edges,” said Cronin. “The warm weather is assisting us in that.”

While the season may be far from over, the Public Works Department said that they have spent $1,635,381 of the town’s annual $1,247,000 snow budget, leaving the department with a deficit of $388,381. 

However, according to public works business manager Sandy Gerraughty, the snow budget is the one item where the state allows towns to deficit spend. Fortunately, she said, the town stayed within their snow budget last year and will not have to assume any deficit from fiscal 2010.

Here is the snow budget for Andover as of Feb. 17:

$835,000

$1,105,616

$212,000

$311,547

$20,000

$0

$180,000

$218,218

$1,247,000

$1,635,381

$388,381