Hingham Snow Budget Takes Hit With Lengthy Storms

Hingham has used nearly 87 percent of its snow budget already this season, following the two-day storm earlier this month that dropped more than a foot of snow and smaller weather patterns that have dropped snow over multiple days. 

The town budgeted $504,325 this year for snow removal, DPW Director Randy Sylvester said. That is up from the $258,000 budgeted for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012.

So far this winter, the DPW has spent $437,683 battling snow and ice.

Sylvester said his department generally does not break out costs per storm, because the town buys snow removal and treatment supplies in bulk at the start of the season and uses them throughout the winter.

If the town goes over its snow budget, as often happens with communities, depending on the year – for example, five years ago Hingham spent triple its budget – then the DPW will seek a reserve fund transfer later this year, Sylvester said.

Snow budgets are unique among municipal finances in that they are an area in which towns are allowed to regularly go beyond planned spending because of the uncertainty of weather.

That, combined with a state law that says a town may not budget less for snow than it did the year before, means that base budgets are typically set lower than expenses.

This season has been rough so far not for the amount of large storms, Sylvester said, but rather because the snow Hingham has seen has come over multiple days, requiring more hours of costly cleanup.