Officials don’t know how they’ll afford steep prices for road salt

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By Dustin Lemmon | Thursday, September 04, 2008 |

Several municipalities in Rock Island County found out this week they will pay three times more for road salt this year than they have in seasons past.

Each county in Illinois bids collectively for its municipalities, and Rock Island County’s bid came back at $130.56 per ton, Silvis City Administrator Jim Grafton said. Usually it’s between $38 and $45 per ton.

Several city leaders said what’s more frustrating is that neighboring counties received lower bids. Henry County will pay $53.87 per ton, and Mercer County, which has the same contractor as Rock Island County, will pay $87.02, Grafton said.

“It’s just going to kill us,” Grafton said of the price. “We have an $18,000 to $20,000 budget (in Silvis), now it’s going to be $60,000. To me, that’s a new truck, and now that’s going to salt.”

Public works officials from several towns said they don’t know how they’ll afford the salt. Under the contract, each city must pay for a minimum of 70 percent of the salt they’ve requested. Silvis put in for 650 tons, Grafton said.

“It’s like you got hit in the gut,” Doug House, Moline’s municipal services general manager, said. “These numbers are astronomical.”

House and Randy Tweet, Rock Island’s street supervisor, said they will present information about the bid to their city councils next week and seek recommendations.

When Moline ran out of salt last winter, it received an emergency shipment from Canada for about $100 per ton, House said. Now that same company is asking for $188 per ton.

Grafton talked to the company that Henry County contracted with and found out it is booked up and can’t take more bids. Grafton heard that some counties and communities missed out on the bidding process and are now scrambling to find a contract.

Several city officials said they were expecting higher prices, but not an amount higher than $100.

House said he’s held several regional meetings on the issue for public works officials and talked to U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., Wednesday. Hare said his staff will research the issue to find out why there is a disparity.

“This seems very peculiar where you have some communities paying double the amount,” Hare said. “I don’t know what’s going on out there, but we need to check into it.”

If the bid doesn’t change, several cities will have to look for other alternatives.

“Right now, I could not tell you what we’re planning to do,” Tweet said. “There is an option to use less salt.”

Grafton said Silvis may have to use more sand and cinder. He said residents don’t like cinder because it tracks into their homes and garages.

Tod McCleary, East Moline’s director of maintenance service, said some residential areas will probably go without salt, but it will be necessary on many streets.

“Some cities have already scaled back,” he said, “but because we have so many major thoroughfares on hills, we can’t scale back. It’s a public safety concern.”

House said he’s heard different theories on why the price of salt is up. He said one reason might be that higher fuel costs have driven more transportation materials to barges, which has driven up the price for barge traffic. He said lower water levels on the Mississippi River have limited transports and may also be to blame. The salt contracted to Rock Island County will be coming from Louisiana, he noted.

Still, none of that explains why it is cheaper for some neighboring counties.

“The salt is probably passing right through our county” to Mercer and Henry counties, he said.

Ross Hall, Coal Valley’s public works director, thinks the salt companies are taking advantage of the municipalities following last winter’s bad weather and consequent salt shortage.

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” Hall said. “Price gouging is what it is.”

Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com.

Higher prices affect Iowa

The Iowa Quad-Cities are also looking at higher salt prices this winter. Davenport received two salt bids last month, one with an order of 11,500 tons of road salt at $57.97 and a second for 11,500 tons at $90.09. Davenport divides its salt with other communities. Most of the more expensive 11,500 tons will go to Bettendorf, Clinton and Camanche.

What they’ll pay in 2008

Rock Island County: $130.56 per ton

Henry County, Ill.: $53.87 per ton

Mercer County, Ill.: $87.02

* Rock Island County has paid between $38 and $45 per ton as recently as 2007