Clearing snow in 2014 cost the city nearly $650,000 more than was set aside.
About $6.45 million was spent on snow and ice control last year, overreaching the year's $5.8 million budget.
The public works department also took on some extra costs following recommendations from the consultants at Mercury Associates who reviewed the city's operations. The review underscored a need for putting contractors on retainer so the city would have enough rental equipment on hand for the season.
"Those retainers started in October, so that was on the 2014 budget and we took that into consideration for the 2015 [budget]," said associate public works director Gina Layte Liston.
During budget deliberations last November, the 2015 snow clearing fund was increased to $6.3 million with the hope that there will be money left over to replenish the long-exhausted reserve fund. Extra money needed for plowing every year is pulled from the city's general reserve.
In addition to the amount of snow that falls in a year, what happens after it stops falling can also have a bearing on the budget, said Layte Liston.
"If it rains right after a snowfall and it's quite temperate, then the cleanup costs are much less than if we go into a very cold spell," she said. "Then we're starting to have to do ice cutting and that becomes very expensive, comparatively, to just having to do a snow removal."
There may not be too much pressure on the 2015 budget as yet with the amount of snow crews have tackled since January, but the weather has allowed a familiar problem to rear its head earlier.
City workers are starting to patch potholes with a cold mix material during all three shifts. The holes, caused by water melting into cracks then expanding when it freezes, are getting uncovered by unseasonably warm temperatures.
