Stateline.org reports that the salt used to cover snow-covered roads is much more expensive this year, adding to the woes of state and local governments already trying to do more with less tax revenue:

Maine secured contracts for about 114,000 tons of salt it needs this winter, but at a cost of more than 27 percent over last year, or $72 a ton, up from about $57 a ton.

“We’re just going to have to pay these prices,” state Department of Transportation spokesman Herb Thompson said. “This means we have to find resources elsewhere in our revenues and parts of other programs will have to be foregone.”

But this isn’t news to the city of Attleboro. The Sun-Chronicle‘s George Rhodes already broke the bad news in June:

The cost of a ton of salt shot up to $64.21 from $51.46, a 25 percent hike, [public works superintendent John Clover] said. Last winter, the city bought about 3,000 tons of salt at a cost of $154,351. If the same amount is bought this coming winter, it will cost the city $192,630.

That would mean the cost for salt alone would put the city $115,130 over the $77,500 budget for snow and ice control.