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Snow: It’s everywhere this time of year.
This winter in particular has hit the state hard with the white stuff, pounding out three heavy winter storms in recent weeks that have closed schools and businesses statewide.
As a result, armies of plows and road crews have spent countless hours clearing and maintaining roads and sidewalks, while thousands of locals and out-of-state tourists have hit the slopes to take advantage of the ample powder.
With all of this activity surrounding the removal or enjoyment of this wintry precipitation, it may come as no surprise that a substantial amount of money is spent on both necessary and pleasurable pursuits from late November through the spring thaw.
According to Rob Yerxa, director of Public Works for the Town of Orono, the average total operating budget for a winter season is roughly $400,000. $140,000 of this is spent on materials such as salt and sand for the roads and sidewalks, and $225,000 goes to the workforce, with an additional $35,000 factored in for fuel charges.
“It all averages out to about $1,500 an inch,” Yerxa said. “So, say we get 10 inches. That will cost about $25,000.”
That figure can seem startling, especially considering how much snow we have received just in the past few weeks, but Yerxa said this amount is about average for a Maine town the size of Orono. He termed last year’s mild winter an “outlier,” saying Public Works has spent almost as much on salt so far this year as they did for the entire last season.
“If you throw out last year — we’re right on par. Pretty average,” he said.
Johnathan Rubin, an economics professor at the University of Maine, estimates the cost of winter snow removal statewide to be nearly $100 million a year, based on a study of the costs of Maine winters he conducted a year ago.
A statement released by the university about the economics of snow-related industries said Rubin’s study encompassed the costs of “rock salt, de-icing chemicals, corrosion of automobiles, steel highway structures and concrete, collisions in snowy, slippery conditions, and the environmental damages, including chloride-contamination of wells.” While some parties spend considerable amounts of money digging out after a big dump, snow is not always seen as such a nuisance that must be removed. Millions of dollars are generated every year by the Maine ski industry — around $300 million, according to an estimate by Greg Sweetzer, executive director of Ski Maine.
Similarly, the Maine Snowmobile Association estimates that sled operators bring $350 million to the state in an especially profitable season.
Although these estimates are not extremely recent, a total of half a billion dollars are generated by these two prominent winter sport industries each year.
Two upcoming winter events in early February are also bringing in money directly to the local Northern Maine economy. The seventh and eighth E.ON Ruhrgas IBU World Cup Biathlon will be held Feb. 4-6 at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle, and Feb. 10-13 at the 10th Mountain Ski Club in Fort Kent.
As mentioned in the statement, these events have the potential to raise nearly $10 million for local Northern Maine economies over the course of a week combined, according to Andy Shepard, president and CEO of the Maine Winter Sports Center. This figure includes sales of fuel, meals, hotel accommodations and other purchases made by tourists coming to the events.
Bangor Daily News