January 28, 2009 Snow removal gets costly for Mass. cities and towns Play video

(John Moroney, NECN: Leominster, MA) - More snow today means shelling out more money for New England communities, and with several storms already winter, budgets are running tight.

Communities around the state are blowing through their snow budgets, and Leominster is a case and point.

This winter has been tough for cities and towns across Massachusetts as they try to stay ahead of the next storm. Bud Bedard, the DPW dispatcher in Leominster, says as many as 40 city employees started working at 3 am Wednesday morning to keep roads passable, and accidents at a minimum.

Its hard work that's getting very costly. Leominster's mayor says the money budgeted for snow and ice removal in July, has already been spent.

Leominster pays for snow removal as it goes, dipping into cash reserves as needed. Other communities deficit spend, and settle up at the end of the fiscal year. Either way snow removal is not an expense that communities skimp on.