Where does all the plowed snow go?

The City of Aledo worked nonstop to pull out all the snow that arrived during last week's monumental three-day snowstorm. On Thursday night at around midnight (Feb. 6, 2011) the Aledo snow removal became really busy. "We were running eight trucks Thursday night," said Steve Moller, Aledo's public works director.

The city had two pieces of equipment -- a back hoe and end loader and a local contractor brought in two other backhoes. In addition,  number of trucks and semis were contracted for hauling away snow. "The cooperation from those outside contractors was tremendous," he said.

By Friday morning all the nearby lots for storing snow piles were full. "Now the rest is going out to Aledo's Industrial Park. Henderson's is piled pretty high," he said.

Moller said the city does budget for snow removal, but this type of storm "is going to be something you don't really budget for. The cost will be out there."

He was anxious to get the snow pulled as quickly as possible. " If we don't get it hauled out now, it becomes granite. melts and freezes, and becomes as hard as a brick."

Moller had a general idea of what this is costing the city, but wouldn't disclose the amount.

Besides the actual cost of snow removal a storm like this has other economic repercussions -- the cost of lost business for area merchants translates into lost tax revenue for the city.

Moller is less concerned with the cost of removal saying what is more important is relieving  "the price of someone getting injured."