Last Week's Blizzard Has Big Impact On Tulsa's Snow Removal Budget

By Jeffrey Smith, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- A lot of the major roads are cleared, but many of the side streets still need work.

How prepared are city workers to face another snow storm?

The city has already exceeded its budget for overtime pay for snow cleanup; half of the city's salt supply is gone, used to clean up the Christmas Eve snow storm.

Some neighborhoods are still digging out from last week's snow storm and now there is a good chance another three inches could be dumped on Green Country.

"It's always a concern, cause we don't know what Mother Nature is going to bring us," said Darren Stefanek, Tulsa Streets Maintenance Manager.

With the streets finally starting to look good after four days of plowing, City leaders are not thrilled with Mother Nature's forecast.

Neither are ordinary Tulsans, who are still dealing with ice patches on neighborhood streets.

"It doesn't matter how good a driver you are, if you've got three inches of ice on the road, you're going to have problems," said Erin Donovan, Tulsa Driver.

The city has used half of its salt supply dealing with the Christmas Eve Blizzard.

"Nobody anticipated a storm this big, this time of year, I mean it's a lot of snow," Stefanek said.

The city appropriates $200,000 dollars a year for salt.

That buys 10 thousand tons of the stuff. Five thousand tons are still left.

The News On 6 asked, "Is it a little disconcerting that you only have five thousand tons to last you the rest, the rest of the winter?"

"We'll do whatever we have to do to get the streets clear. If we have to use it all, then we use it all," Stefanek said.

Tulsa hires 146 workers to operate its 32 plows and 58 spreaders.

The city budgets $65,000 dollars a year for overtime.

They've already spent nearly 100-thousand dollars on overtime, all of it going to the crews who worked around the clock on Christmas.

Stefanek says not every snowstorm will be an historic blizzard and his crews are ready to do it all over again.