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Mild winter saving Quad City public works departments thousands of dollars

By this time last year, our viewing area had seen nearly 40-inches of snow. This year we’ve gotten about half that. In Silvis, the lack of snowfall is hel...

By this time last year, our viewing area had seen nearly 40-inches of snow. This year we've gotten about half that.

In Silvis, the lack of snowfall is helping their annual budget.

“That’s reduced our salt use [by] about 400-tons and it's reduced our overtime [by] about 250-hours,” said Jim Grafton, the Director of Public Works in Silvis.

It’s also saved the city $43,000, which is about 15-percent of their annual street department budget.

In Moline and Rock Island, they're only a few months into their calendar year, which means their savings won't be seen until months down the road.

What can be seen is their unusually full domes of salt.

“Typically, this time of year we're sort of running on our last bit of salt,” said Randy Tweet, the Director of Rock Island Public Works. “So the benefit of the warm winter is you're more prepared the following winter.”

Across the river in Davenport, the savings are seen in the Public Works Department paychecks. They've spent $100,000 dollars less in overtime, according to Nicole Gleason, a manager there.

Workers who depend on that money aren't as excited about the lack of snowfall this winter.

“I’m happy to see it but maybe these younger guys aren't,” said Richard Krantz, the lead worker for Silvis Public Works. “It impacts the guys’ yearly wage, that's for sure, but there are years where we go out 30 to 40 times.”

Hours that can now be spent working on other important maintenance.

“We've gotten a lot of other things done inside,” Krantz said. “Repairing barricades, maintenance of your flashers, sign work, truck maintenance, stuff we don’t normally have time to do.”

All of the money saved this season will go back into Silvis’ general fund.

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