Brown Christmas said blessing for road budget

A warm December may mean more summer maintenance on Whitman County’s roads.

Public Works Director Mark Storey reported Tuesday morning the county had spent an estimated $100,000 of its $760,000 snow removal budget in 2011.

The county typically budgets $760,000 for yearly snow plowing and sanding. Storey said that was based on a multi-year average. He said future snow removal budgets will likely increase when the heavy winter of 2008, in which the county spent in excess of $1 million to deal with winter roads, is factored in.

Money for snow removal comes out of the county’s total road budget. P...