Already 50 inches of snow has fallen in Boston this winter pushing the city’s snow budget to the brink.
With a little over two months left before the city is out of the woods this winter the city’s Department of Public Works (BPW) has spent $16.1 million of the $18.5 million in its snow budget.
“We’ve have had 21 snow/ice control events since late November,” said Emilee Ellison, a press secretary for Mayor Martin Walsh’s. “That does not count small morning freeze events that have occurred about a half dozen to a dozen times.”
However, Boston is doing much better keeping its snow budget in check compared to South Shore communities like Quincy and Brockton who have gone $500,000 and $1 million over their snow budgets respectively.
The state has also spent well over its allotted budget for snow and ice removal and is asking the legislature for an additional $50 million in funding. Already the state has spent more that $100 million on snow and ice removal. This year’s budget was set at $43 million.
Since January alone the state has had to cough up $74 million to deal with the dozen or so snowstorms this winter.
