In the final days of March, Portland’s snowfall total topped 100 inches for the season – that’s 30 above the yearly average, and a marked departure from last year’s mild winter.
So far, this has been the 14th snowiest in the city’s history, and USM has experienced plenty of delays, cancellations and annoyances.
But don’t blame it for any of our budget woes.
Last summer, Facilities Management began fielding bids from local paving contractors, who turn to plowing snow during their slow winter months. The bids constitute a fixed rate for the entire season, and are typically based on an estimated 15 snowstorms.
Regardless of what follows, the price sticks, and the lowest bidder walks away with the prize.
Over the winter of 2006-07, it was the contractors who clearly emerged with the better deal.
Not so this winter – so far, there have been 24 “weather events.”
So the term “winning bidder” may be used lightly.
For the 2007-08 school year, Glidden Excavating & Paving was awarded the contract for the Portland campus, while Peter Pinkham Inc. handles Gorham.
The only time USM has had to deviate from the bid is to have snow physically hauled away, which is no small task. It forces the contractor to use a fuel-hungry, tri-axel machine, costing the school an additional $10,000 for all the equipment and hours required.
Ten or so years ago, that process was both more common and less costly. It was more common because students at the Portland campus were once so dependant on outdoor parking, before the five-story garage on Bedford Street.
It also cost less, because they could dump excess snow just down the road along the Back Cove. The EPA has since put a stop to that, when melting snow was determined to be a major cause of water pollution.
In recent years, the agency has required that surplus snow be relocated to certified dumpsites.
Dave Early has been director of facilities management at USM for 18 years. He happily reports that the school has only had to pay for one of those expensive hauls this year.
And he hasn’t been especially surprised by the rough weather – he’s seen worse, much worse. He is also quick to point out that the school has benefited by locking in reasonable prices far in advance.
That goes for oil, too – 100 percent of its #2 heating oil was secured at $2.209 per gallon, an improvement over what was anticipated.
In the end, according to official estimates, the school is projecting a seven-percent increase in energy expenditures over the previous year. Early admits that the figure is “conservative,” and it is an increase, but he has been happy to sidestep some of the biggest pitfalls of a rough winter.
2009, he guesses, could be a different story, and one that needs to be monitored closely.
Judging from today’s prices, the school’s budget for fuel oil, natural gas and electricity could increase by several hundred thousand dollars.
It currently hovers at around five million.