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Thursday, February 13, 2003

By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Each year, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation computes a five-year average of salt, snow and expenses to determine how much salt to order and how much money to budget for the next winter.

	Related story: Hit-run snows emptying state saltbox, wallet

Averages are important to the formula because the state is so large and geographically different, officials say. For example, Erie could have a foot of snow, Pittsburgh could have an inch of snow and Philadelphia could have rain and temperatures in the 40s, all on the same day.

"We had three mild winters in a row and that has affected our numbers," PennDOT Deputy Secretary Gary Hoffman said.

In any case, PennDOT loads all of its storage facilities to their tops before winter -- a total of 700,000 tons of salt statewide.

Salt contracts are bid in early spring for the next year. Bids are based on prices that include delivery and are separate for each of the state's 67 counties because transportation costs and modes of delivery -- by barge, rail and truck -- make a difference.

PennDOT is required to buy at least 75 percent of the amount of salt in contracts. It can go to 130 percent of the contracted amount and the supplier must stick with the base bid.

In a winter like this one, when PennDOT exceeds 130 percent, the state General Services Office has to negotiate new prices, which are always higher because of the demand.

Bids under state contracts range from about $34 to $42 a ton, including delivery -- just about the same as for the winter of 2001-02. But the extra salt the state is buying because of so many snowy days is costing about $62 to $68 a ton, depending on the county to which it's delivered.

"We know of places in New England paying $75 a ton," Hoffman said.

This year, four salt companies won contracts to supply PennDOT with salt. One vendor, American Rock Salt Co., which mines the salt near Rochester, N.Y., holds more than half of the state agency's contracts this winter based on low bids.

There's another downside when PennDOT exceeds the $160 million for "winter services" in the 2002-03 budget, as part of a $1.1 billion highway maintenance budget -- few state-maintained roads will be resurfaced in the spring, unless they are jobs not finished in the fall.

When PennDOT ends up with a surplus, it awards resurfacing contracts already let out to bid. When there's no surplus, Hoffman said, the contracts are not awarded before the state's next fiscal year begins July 1.

Joe Grata can be reached at jgrata@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1985.