It Costs A Lot To Salt A County

How much rock salt does it take to make sure every road in Morris County is safe during winter storms?

How about over $1 million?

That was the amount approved last week by the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeeholders when they renewed the county's contract with Interational Salt Co. for rock salt totaling $1,120,000. At 17,000 tons, the rock salt comes out at about $66 per ton.

When asked if the high number was a reaction to the wild winter that caught many off-guard earlier this year, County Engineer Stephen Hammond said, "It's our normal order.

"There's no telling what this winter will bring," he said. "We pre-order, we don't buy it. And we get to cancel at the end of the year [if we don't use it]."

Hammond said the county always orders the standard amount and then hopes they don't need it, like last year, when the county used 3,600 tons during the late February storm alone. "We were way over [the amount ordered] with the storms last year," he said.

Jeff Hartke, the Morristown engineer and director of Public Works, said the town had used 1,001 tons of rock salt throughout the winter season last year. 

"Yes, we're prepared," he said. "It's out of our control, we just do what we can."

Hartke said not only is snow an issue, but also ice when temperatures rise and then fall during the evening, as they did last winter. "We just go day-by-day," he said.