Kane cites savings from mild winter

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Updated: March 22, 2012 10:36PM

When it comes to keeping the budget down, Kane County is looking for any ally it can find, and that includes Mother Nature.

The mild winter has benefited the Kane County Transportation Department considerably, according to Deputy Director Tom Rickert. Salt, overtime expenses and road repairs have all come in under estimates, he said.

“Overall, we’ve seen a significant savings in transportation,” he said.

The county plans to bid for 2,500 tons less rock salt than it did last year, because of reserves that it did not use this year. Road crews have been out 20 times this year, and used a total of 5,900 tons of salt.

Last year at this time, they had been out 37 times and used 10,000 tons of salt. The county has used $275,000 less in rock salt and $125,000 less in overtime than recent years, according to numbers Rickert provided.