How Does MnDOT Budget For Minnesota Winters?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- With our mild stretch of winter weather, the Minnesota Department of Transportation has been getting a lot of questions about whether the lack of snow will save the state money.

But there are a lot of other expenses than just snow removal. MnDOT says the average budget for snow and ice treatment is around $90 million per year.

So far, expenses for this season are around $66 million. So what happens to any money left over after our winter warm-up?

"I would caution that winter is not over," Kevin Gutknecht with MnDOT said.

Gutknecht, communications director with MnDOT, says it's unrealistic to calculate costs for the 2016-2017 season when snow can fall as late as May. And it started with a bang.

"We did have a number of storms for a period of weeks there. We had a storm almost every weekend," Gutknecht said.

Gutknecht says it's important to remember some areas of the state have had heavier snow, like northern, southern and western areas of Minnesota.

Costs also include pretreating for ice, not just snow.

"We've spent more on overtime this year than we did last year. We put more salt down than we did last year," Gutknecht said.

Still at $66 million spent so far this year, that's less than half of what was spent in one of the worst winters on record in the 2013-2014 season. So if there is money left over from winter, what happens to it?

"The rest of the money will go towards things like patching roadways, preparing potholes, fixing guardrails, mowing in the summer time," Gutknecht said.

But even if it seems a milder winter so far means "cheaper," there's a lot of winter left.

"There's potential for a snow storm this weekend. So that would mean we would be working on snow and ice," Gutknecht said.

MnDOT says so far this year they have used around 159,000 tons of salt on the roads. That's already more than last year. Any salt that is leftover simply is reused the next winter.