Cost Of Cold Weather
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As temperatures drop….the cost of this year’s first cold blast is adding up. The wind is picking up… And the mercury is dropping. But not without a hefty price tag for some agencies…including Montgomery County Schools….which were mostly built in the 19-70s…and lack insulation. GFX– MUST SAY $29,800 School officials say the estimated cost to allow heat non-stop… NEARLY 30-THOUSAND DOLLARS A DAY. And they’re prepared to do that both Thursday *and* Friday. BITE- Donald Dotson You’ve got to heat up for continuously all night because if you try and wait and crank at 7 am when everybody gets there, the building wont be warm until about 3 pm that evening. TRACK 2 Bus drivers will crank up school busses an hour earlier to make sure they are warm…and do not have mechanical problems because of the weather. GFX That early preparation is going to cost Montgomery Public School’s Transportation Department an estimated $5,725 dollars a day. That includes the cost of extra hours and the cost of fuel being burned up while warming the buses. BITE- Dotson we don’t have any other choice but to use those funds to do that. TRACK 3 Montgomery E-M-A director, Calvin Brown is also keeping a close watch on the weather…and the budget. Even though forecasters don’t show any chances of rain or ice on the roads…he says crews are prepared for the worst. While they’re not sanding the roads right now…. They have budgeted an additional 15-thousand-dollars for future winter weather preps. BITE- Calvin Brown When you put frozen sand on the ground it’s not going to do any good so we kind of put our sand out the night before and keep it warm until the time we put it out. TRACK 4 Public Safety authorities are also eyeing the skies… Public Safety Director, Chris Murphy says he’s *not anticipating police and fire to work overtime during *this freeze…unlike last year’s winter storm where they shelled out about 90-thousand dollars. BITE-Chris Murphy, PUblic Safety Director. Generally with it getting this cold it doesn’t cost us any more, we’re just doing that mission a little bit differently than we would in May or in April. Last year, freezing temperatures caused more than 2-million dollars in losses to state properties…
