ISHPEMING, Mich. (WLUC) – Following the spring storm, we are taking a look at road budgets in Marquette County and following your money that’s being spent.
$594,000 is the budget for winter maintenance in the City of Ishpeming. City Manager Craig Cugini said so far this year, $314,600 has been spent. That is $20,000 less compared to the same time last year.
“What’s included in the maintenance for that budget is our normal operational salaries, overtime expenses, materials like salt and salt and sand mix. Also, repair and maintenance of the vehicles,” Cugini said.
Cugini said roadway construction projects are budgeted separately from maintenance. So while the construction season is affected by the length of winter, the impacts are not tied to the budget.
“If we have an under-executed maintenance budget, we will have anything remaining-the surplus-and it would be added to the construction budget for the following year,” Cugini said.
Cugini adds that the city is well-equipped to serve its residents and roadways during an elongated winter.
“We have a great group of workers that are out there tirelessly working on behalf of residents, keeping those safe school routes open to make sure people can get to places. They’ve already done over 4,300 hours of overtime this year,” said Cugini.
Meanwhile, the Marquette County Road Commission said so far, its budget is very comparable to last year.
“What we try to do is we apply a contingency and an inflationary factor to formulate what we call a just above average winter for our budget,” said Marquette County Road Commission Managing Director Pete Deux.
Deux said temperatures in April and May will dictate when road maintenance starts.
“The effect on our overall program is not totally known right not because we’re not sure winter is over yet; we’ll see what the next few months bring,” Deux said.
Deux adds that so far summer construction has not been impacted by winter.
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