Mild Winter Good For Snow Budgets

         The Massachusetts Department of Transportation reported it still has $20 million left in its $48 million snow removal budget. But the executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, Geoff Beckwith, says that the State’s unused snow removal money probably won’t be used for other things like schools or fixing roads.   
       “This year is a real relief,” Beckwith says. “But...It’s not as though there will be major surpluses all over, because of course we’re still paying the bills from last year as well.” Last winter, heavy snowfall used up many snow budgets by early February. The mild winter is not good for everyone’s budget. Private snow plow operator George Varelas, who makes additional money plowing snow says, “If I knew it was gonna be like this, I never would have bought my plow…. You wait for it. And sometimes it comes, sometimes it doesn’t.”

- Lynn Jolicoeur, WBUR