Bergen Snow Budget Stretched Thin by 2014’s Wintry Start

Five “weather events” this year have cost one Bergen County department approximately one quarter of its operating budget, according to a report.

With just days left to go in January, Joe Crifasi, head of the county department of public works, estimated he’d spent about $750,000 of a $2.9 million budget to deal with two “full-blown events” and two or three “semi-events” this year, according to a story in The Record.

Crifasi has to stretch the remaining cash through the rest of the year or petition county freeholders for a budget adjustment in the future, the report said.

While major weather events are a predictable drain on fiscal resources, the public works director said that “light dustings” can be just as costly due to equipment prep and keeping personnel on standby in the event of worsening conditions. 

Many parts of Bergen County were blanketed in snow twice this year: about a half-foot of snow fell just after New Year’s Day, and an even more substantial downfall of approximately 10 to 12 inches fell on Jan. 21.

Light snowfall is expected in some areas of northern New Jersey Tuesday evening as well as Saturday.