Belmont Snow Budget Still in the Black … For Now

With unseasonably warm temperatures expected this week and most evidence of the two snow storms that visited Belmont in the past month having gone down the street drains, most residents thoughts are far from the impact the storms on Dec. 17 and Jan. 2 have on the town's budget.

And while the storms required the town to send out not only their own equipment but also private contractors to clear main and side streets, the white stuff has not placed the town's snow removal budget in the red.

With the town still collecting invoices from a slew of vendors, Belmont Town Administrator David Kale said "estimates is that we have not yet exhausted" the $567,200 allocated for snow removal in the fiscal 2014 budget.

A firm number on what has been spent will come in the coming weeks, he told Belmont Patch after Friday's Board of Selectmen's meeting. 

Even if subsequent snow storms empties the snow removal line item, Kale said the town would seek approval of a transfer from a reserve account in the fiscal '14 General Fund set up to pay for such emergency overages.

So far, the two storms were not severe enough to warrant being considered damaging storms which would result in funds from outside agencies.

"To our knowledge, there are no federal or state reimbursements available for the costs incurred by the Town for snow removal," said Kale.