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In a review of snowplow/snow removal expenditures per community, differences in how much a town is willing to pay for the service quickly emerge.
Among the 10 largest communities in Central and Western Massachusetts, it’s hard to beat Worcester. The city spent $8,530 per mile of city roadway on plowing services in 2019.
The biggest city spending the least amount of money per mile to plow its streets is Chicopee - which spent $2,635 per mile in 2019.
Here’s what the largest communities paid to remove snow in 2019, according to the most recent data from the Massachusetts Division of Local Services.
To see what’s happening in your town, keep scrolling.
TOP 10 LARGEST CITIES
It’s hard to beat Worcester on snow-removal spending, but Pittsfield in Berkshire County is the only one in Central and Western Massachusetts that does. The Berkshires’ get more snow than other parts of the state and has fewer available workers - a situation that jacks up the cost of street plowing. Pittsfield spent $10,442 per mile on snow plowing in 2019.
Here’s what other cities spent:
- Worcester - $8,530 spent per mile on snow removal, total spent was about $4.6 million in 2019
- Leominster - $7,397 per mile, $1.4 million total spent on snow removal
- Milford - $6,509 per mile, $805,000 total spent
- Shrewsbury - $6,234 per mile, $1.2 million total
- Westfield - $5,323 per mile, $1.3 million total
- Fitchburg - $4,692 per mile, $950,000 total
- Holyoke - $3,426 per mile, $606,500 total
- Springfield - $3,140 per mile, $1.6 million total
- Amherst - $2,864 per mile, $395,410 total
- Chicopee - $2,635 per mile, $692,000 total.
Among the factors that determine how much a community spends on snow removal is the cost of materials such as sand and salt, snow plow/vehicle maintenance, wages, and past budget appropriations.
It is not uncommon for a community to earmark less than what is needed for snow removal, then pass added spending measures as needed. Doing things this way makes sure that money doesn’t get tied up in snow removal services - when it could be spent on police, schools, etc. - during a light winter. In many cases, removing money from a department in the middle of a budget cycle is much harder than passing a supplemental appropriation.
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY
Here’s what your community spent to remove snow in 2019 going from most to least money per mile spent. The data includes the per mile as well as total expenditure.
- Easthampton $4,095 per mile - $375,000 total spent
- Northampton $3,676 per mile - $664,291 total
- Southampton $3,521 per mile - $269,917 total
- Amherst $2,864 per mile - $395,410 total
- South Hadley $2,698 per mile - $280,012 total
- Granby $2,665 per mile - $183,401 total
- Hadley $2,585 per mile - $204,585 total
- Westhampton $2,314 per mile - $109,457 total
- Worthington $2,254 per mile - $146,542 total
- Pelham $2,087 per mile - $95,516 total
- Plainfield $2,072 per mile - $100,000 total
- Williamsburg $2,045 per mile - $103,280 total
- Belchertown $1,952 per mile - $318,823 total
- Middlefield $1,856 per mile - $71,058 total
- Chesterfield $1,763 per mile - $102,846 total
- Cummington $1,521 per mile - $93,096 total
- Hatfield $1,405 per mile - $83,766 total
- Goshen $1,255 per mile - $52,868 total
- Ware $1,074 per mile - $125,000 total
- Huntington $914 per mile - $50,000 total.
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