Mild winter

creates savings

Water main breaks plague New Ulm

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The mild winter weather may be saving the City of New Ulm overtime, salt and energy, but street department crews have found other pressing demands.

No less than nine water main breaks -- including a handful of late -- have kept workers busy.

The lack of snow could be considered a detriment because it could allow frost to sink further into the ground, increasing chances of broken mains.

"If you see a street with barricades and excessive water or ice in the area, it's probably a water main break, caused by shifting ground," New Ulm City Manager Brian Gramentz said. "The way the weather is, frost goes up and down. If a main breaks, we have to dig up the street, repair the break and put the street back together. Hopefully, it won't happen on a street that was recently overlaid."

When they aren't working on broken water mains, street department workers have found more time to work on trimming trees over city streets, and miscellaneous repair projects that would normally be put aside during the winter.

Overall, money is being saved this winter, Gramentz said. He was quick to point out that snowier, cooler weather the rest of the winter could quickly deplete the city coffer of money that was saved.

Sleepy Eye City Manager Mark Kober said the mild fall and winter is helping that community balance out from the 2000-2001 winter that included 38 snow removals, putting their budget $12,000 in the hole.

"We took a hit back then," Kober said. "But this winter is certainly a pleasant thing overall. We're about $12,000 under budget."

The City of Sleepy Eye budgeted $24,800 for snow and ice removal, sanding and salting during fiscal year 2002.

Due to the lag time in billing, Kober didn't have current figures for heating savings, but he said less steam was sent to downtown customers this winter.

Kober would like to see more mild winters to boost the city budget.

"It would be nice to have three or four winters like this in a row," Kober said. "It'll take a while to get the figures, but we should have some more savings due to lower heating costs."

Brown County Highway Department savings for 2002 were greater. The county spent just $10,000 controlling snow and ice on 335 miles of roads from October through December. It spent $100,000 controlling ice and snow for all of 2002.

An average winter would require $250,000 to $300,000 to be spent, according to Brown County Highway Engineer Wayne Stevens.

Meanwhile, his crews have been working on equipment maintenance and tree trimming.

"It's nice to have years like this once in a while so we can get caught up on things we would normally put off," Stevens said.