December storm cost city $3.4M in plowing, salt

The city spent $3.4 million on snow removal after the Dec. 19 storm blanketed the region with more than 23 inches of powder, officials said yesterday.

And since there was no money put in the Streets Department budget specifically for snow removal, the city still has to figure out how to pay the bill, said Budget Director Stephen Agostini.

"There was no money budgeted for this. We're going to have to make them whole," Agostini said.

He said the city doesn't typically budget for snow removal, because Philadelphia doesn't always get winter storms.

The $3.4 million price tag covered the labor to plow the 2,500 miles of city streets, the price of outside contractors and the cost of tons of salt, said mayoral spokesman Doug Oliver.

Officials stressed that the costs were well below the last major storm to hit the city. Oliver said that the city paid upwards of $14 million to clear out after the blizzard of 1996, which left 30.7 inches of snow.

The city was already on track to end the current financial year $31 million in the red.