Mild Winter 'Welcomed' by Township Officials

By Stephanie Petit

While some may have been disappointed that the winter of 2011-2012 was not more eventful, Lawrence Township officials were happy that not a lot of snow fell this season.

“Certainly, mild winters are a welcomed event,” Lawrence Township Manager Richard Krawczun said.

Krawczun said the township spent about $68,000 on snow removal and related operations this winter, a small amount when compared to the money spent on clearing snow from the township’s 200 lane miles of road during the previous two winters.  

The caused some power outages and damaged trees in town, and resulted in the cancellation of a few events around the township and some minor traffic accidents.

Krawczun said a combined total of about $166,000 remains in the township’s snow removal budget and snow trust fund.  

“What everybody needs to remember or keep in mind is the budget is for a calendar year, and the snow removal season is more in the winter so it overlaps [years],” Krawczun said. “So even though we had a mild winter, we still have resources available for year-end.”

Krawczun talked about how the surprise pre-Halloween storm of last year could happen again.

“The October storm was almost a $16,000 event,” he said. “If you have two or three storms, you can easily be [up to] $50,000 or $60,000.”

A contract the township has in place with a landscaping business to provide additional snow removal help in the event of a major storm was not used this year.

“We only use that with large snowfall amounts on an on-call basis,” Krawczun said.

Any money in the snow removal budget not utilized by year’s end will then be transferred to the snow removal trust fund for future snow-clearing use, according to Krawczun.

 “We’re well prepared every year,” Krawzcun said. “Our public work crews are prepared with equipment, materials. We are always prepared for an event. That’s one of the other reasons we will keep this money in the trust, because that helps us be prepared financially.”