Declaration of Snow Emergency application moves forward
By Brenda L. Shelkey
Snow removal has definitely had some ups and downs in the last five years as recognized by the application City Auditor Diane Schell had to fill out to receive reimbursement for the January 2009 snow removal overload. At the March 2 city commission meeting, Schell showed that she had done the math for the Declaration of Snow Emergency application, going back to January of 2004. The amounts spent for each year, $8,406.01 in 2004, $4,465.80 in 2005, $141.29 in 2006, $4,710.36 in 2007, and $1,729.08 in 2008, all added up to $19, 452.54, a little more than 200 dollars less than all of January 2009 at $19, 239.16. Expenses for each year had to be broken down into fuel, maintenance, sand and salt, rentals, contractors, employees, and equipment. The employee wages had to be broken down into regular and overtime hours. The intent is to get reimbursement for some of this year’s snow removal costs according to the formula set by the state which is figured out by finding the average cost for snow removal for years 2004-2008 which amounts to $3,890.51. Reimbursement amounts cover half the amount over 200 percent of the averaged cost. For Underwood, it could mean over $5,000. Mayor Rick Olson was encouraged that the additional monies would help Underwood’s 2009 budget concerns. He moved forward to talk about other budgeterelated items.
