MAUMEE, Ohio — It has been such a mild winter in northwest Ohio when it comes to the lack of snow and mild temperatures.
Plows that are usually mounted on salt and sand trucks are sitting idle, lined up in a row inside the Ohio Department of Transportation's garage.
Due to the mild weather, money typically used to keep roads clear of snow is not being spent. But where does that money go?
The city of Toledo is more than a foot below normal for snowfall this season, but ODOT District 2 Deputy Director Pat McColley said this may be a good thing when it comes to the budget.
"So far this year, ODOT has saved money. When we have light years, we tend to save money on overtime costs, so that's direct personnel costs. And we also save money, it kind of goes into next year," McColley said. "So we purchase a lot of our salt that we're using from a prior year."
If we continue to a have mild winter, a lot of that salt may not be needed until next year.
"It might be really pushing it to try to get all that salt in the salt sheds," McColley said. "But nonetheless, we have to buy that minimum amount, but it'll save some money next year."
With the lack of snow, ODOT will have more freedom to finish more projects around the city, McColley said.
"Whatever money we don’t spend will actually go back into the system some way, somehow," McColley said.
Things like road repair and safety-related projects will benefit from the mild and less costly winter.
Granted, there is still a way to go before the winter season is over, but ODOT is on pace to come in well under budget if this keeps up, which is welcomed after a busy January.
With Toledo currently below the average snowfall by over a foot, it will be hard to catch up as the chance of impactful snow events starts to decrease.