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Unseasonably warm weather spares Lake County, but what about tax payer money?

Posted at 8:40 PM, Jan 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-19 20:40:22-05
Old man winter has been kind to the Cleveland-area in recent weeks, with many parts seeing little to no snow. But does less snow mean less tax payer money spent cleaning up messy roads?
 
Some snow belt cities say not necessarily.
 
The sun beats down on an army of snow plows sitting idly in the mentor public works facility. An unusual sight in the heart of winter…welcomed not only by residents, but snowbelt city officials too. “Yeah it’s a welcomed period in the public works world” said Mentor Public Works director Matt Schweikert.
 
Schweikert says the warmer weather is giving his crews a much needed break.  “This is kind of the reward for the harsher weather they have to deal with at times” said Schweikert.
 
It’s also a temporary relief for the budget. “Most of the savings comes in the ways of overtime saved and fuel saved that we are not having to use” said Schweikert.
 
But Schweikert says it’s too early to tell if this will lead to a surplus come December, the same goes for the city of Willoughby. “We obviously still have to get through the end of this winter and the beginning of next winter" said Schweikert.
 
Meanwhile the city of Euclid tells me that the recent rainfall has wrecked havoc on their storm sewers, forcing them to re-purpose any money they would’ve saved.
 
But not every one is a fan of the warmer temperatures.
 
“I need mother nature to stop smoking that lala” said Jeanette Bryce, because Bryce believes what winter weather we don’t get now, we’ll regret later. "If it doesn’t snow now we will be looking at snow all the way until may” said Bryce.