Early year snow, costs strain county

The six-weeks snow deluge of February and March led to county expenditures of $850,000, including a few dollars in January.

The county averages a yearly expenditure of $300,000-$400,000 for snow and ice removal.

"The big caution now is, we still have November and December in front of us," said Mark Storey, Public Works director, at the time.

The January to March total did not include the cost to replace a section of fence near Rock Lake taken out by a road grader at the edge of a county road right-of-way. The fence was hidden in a snow drift.

Also, a bill awaited from Asotin County for a two-day rental of their rotary snow blower, at a cost of $400 per hour for the vehicle and two operators.

It was used for snowdrifts on Oakesdale Road, Hume Road and more.

"That was the difference, the amount of snow wasn't so unusual but the wind never really stopped blowing," Storey said then. "It kept drifting, especially up north in District One."

District One encompasses Rosalia, Tekoa, Oakesdale and Farmington.

The top expenditure on snow work for Whitman County was 2008, when $1,060,000 was spent over the 12 months. Storey reported that in some parts of District One, conditions were worse in 2019 than 2008.

After the snow began to melt in mid-March, county Public Works crews got to work addressing the aftermath; road graders out of service, broken-off mounts, trucks down.

"It kind of sucked the life out of our equipment," said Storey. "It would be the equivalent if you ran a car for long stretches without time to service it."