WHITE LAKE, NY — A heated debate broke out at the Town of Bethel meeting on January 27 over the snow removal practices of the highway supervisor William Crumley. Board member Lillian Hendrickson addressed rapidly rising cost of snow removal and asked Crumley, “Who’s going to pay for it?”

Town supervisor Dan Sturm laid out the costs. He said, “We have spent $32,000 more for salt than we did last year,” While acknowledging that the cost of sand has gone up, he said, “If the policy and procedures do not change, I will do an easy projection of being more than $200,000 over (budget) in salt alone.”

Crumley responded, “I told you in September 1,800 tons is not enough salt for this town.”

Then Vicky Simpson initiated a discussion about using straight salt versus a salt and sand mix. She said, “Some roads are being treated with straight salt as opposed to sand mixed with salt—White Lake Homes, Smallwood, some county roads. I don’t understand it. We’re about to get a sand operation for the town; its going to reduce costs considerably.”

Crumley replied, “Actually it doesn’t. I’ve got the data to prove that.”

Simpson continued, “I can’t understand why after all this we’re going to go to straight salt. It’s not good for the budget; its not good for the environment.”

Crumely said, “Actually it’s better for the environment.” He then defended the use of straight salt. He said, “When I send a truck out to do the roads in Smallwood, we can do it in one load with straight salt and do a much better job, as opposed to mixing it, going out three times and using the same amount of salt.”

Simpson asked why overtime was running so high. He answered it was because of repeated ice and snow storms.

Sturm read a letter to be sent to Crumley, in which he explained that it appears the snow removal account will run out of funds before the end of the year. Sturm said everyone is concerned about the roads being safe, but “it appears that safety may be maintained by using the distribution of salt more carefully... by mixing sand with the salt the rate of use of salt will be diminished. The salt sand mixture has been used successfully for many years, decades, by former highway department superintendents.”

The letter warned that while the town board has the authority to transfer money between various accounts, “the town board will not transfer funds into the snow removal account again this year absent a true emergency or unforeseen circumstances.” The fiscal year runs through December 31.

Sturm warned that if a highway superintendent orders more salt than can be paid for with funds in the account, the superintendent is personally liable for the debt.

The board voted four to one in favor of sending the letter, with Dawn Ryder voting no.

Crumley said “You’re asking me to do the impossible.”

Sturm said, “I have never witnessed anything like this in all my years as budget officer as I have seen this last month.”

Crumley responded, “And I haven’t witnessed ice storms and snow storms day after day after day.”

Sturm reiterated his point that if the kind of spending that took place in January continued, the result would be a budget deficit that would require a 6% to 10% tax increase to fill next year.