ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996 TAG: 9603190041
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY/Staff writer
The dusting area residents awoke to March 8 may have been Old Man Winter's last gasp - at least for this season. Although the ice, drifts and snow-choked streets in January and February are fading from memory, the bills remain. Near 52 inches of snow fell on Roanoke from December through February. And the bigger the storm the more bucks it takes to move it off the streets. In all, costs for snow removal in Roanoke this winter amount to $569,686*. That sum would cover a lunch and dinner at a fast-food restaurant for every man, woman and child who lives here. Put another way, it would put about five gallons of gas in every privately owned car in the city.
Here are some other ways of looking at it:
Cost to salt, sand and plow 52 inches of snow from city streets, per inch: $10,955.50
Cost per linear inch of the pedestrian bridge between Hotel Roanoke and First Union Tower: $1,620
Average cost per mile to salt and plow a two-lane street this winter: $2,071.59
Pounds of salt, sand and cinders dumped on city streets: 7,140,000
Average cost per pound of those items: 49.7 cents.
Snow removal cost per man, woman and child living in Roanoke: $6
Cost of an Extra Value meal at McDonald's: $2.99
Average cost per privately owned car in Roanoke: $6.42
Average cost of a gallon of gas: about $1.20
Number of hours snow plows and sand trucks spent on city streets: 15,763
Average hourly cost per vehicle (in fuel, parts and supplies) to operate city snow removal equipment: $1
Number of hours city workers spent on snow removal efforts: 24,097
Proportion of those hours that will be paid as overtime: 56 percent
Average cost per hour (including FICA) for snow removal workers on regular time: $12.31
Average cost per hour (including FICA) for snow removal workers on overtime: $18.11
Cost of hiring five local contractors to assist in snow removal: $36,225
Average cost for each hour those contractors had workers on the street: $45.28
Amount budgeted for snow removal in Roanoke, fiscal 1995-1996: $96,449
Additional cost, over and above budget: $473,237**
Amount of disaster aid city expects from state and federal governments: $110,000
*In Salem, the total cost was $360,000, or $14.40 per person. Figures were unavailable for Roanoke County, where the Virginia Department of Transportation handles snow removal.
**Includes the cost of stockpiled salt and chemicals the city paid for last year but didn't use.
Source: March 4, 1996 report to city council from Roanoke city administration
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Stinson. color.by CNB