The more than seven feet of snow that buried Hanover this winter wreaked havoc on town and College budgets but was a boon for some local businesses.
The College has spent about $450,000 on snow removal this winter: about $197,000 on walks and drives, $163,000 on parking lots, and the remainder on other properties, according to John Gratiot, associate director of Facilities, Operations and Management.
The school used 350,000 pounds of sand, 200,000 pounds of salt and 110 shovels.
"The costs started very high but they slowed down when we did not get as much snow during February and March," he said. "We are lucky in that because if we had continued as we started, the budget would have been definitely overspent. As it is, we spent about the same as last year."
This year's spending slightly exceeded the snow removal budget, meaning Facilities, Operations and Management will defer some parking lot and road maintainance this spring, Gratio said.
The snow, and especially the ice, caused greater than usual damage to several buildings, he said.
Gratio said snow and ice damaged the roofs of Bynre Hall, Cutter-Shabazz Hall and Silsby Hall. "We also had some damage that resulted from breaking ice off roofs with hatchets and axes where roofing was cut by the axe."
Workers out around the clock clearing snow logged more than 10,000 hours of labor this winter. "We had a number of 18-hour days with short sleep periods before going back to work ... so the workers did get very tired," Gratiot said.
The year was difficult for Hanover crews as well, according to Highway Superintendent Richard Hauger.
Their winter maintenance budget falls under the general Highway Department budget, and is about $287,000 according to Hauger.
The costs this winter are expected to be two to four percent higher than budgeted, but no cutbacks will be necessary as the difference will come from already budgeted "overlay" expenses.
"We didn't expect anything as bad as what we got," Hauger said, alluding to a combination of extreme cold and heavy snow that he said hadn't both occurred in some time.
The average temperature in January was 11.3 degrees, 7.3 degrees below normal. In February it increased to 16.7 degrees, still 5.1 degrees below normal.
Aside from difficulties created by the cold, the town's salt supplies in White River Junction ran out and salt had to be shipped from northern New Hampshire.
Although some Eastern towns had problems obtaining adequate salt supplies, Hanover was always able to find substiutes. The twon used 1,700 tons this season.
Local students loved the weather as well. The Hanover School District had as many days off due to weather this year as in the last five years combined, according to Administrative Assistant Janice Cook.
There were five snow days, four in January, compared to none last year.
To make up the time, scheduled days off were canceled on Mar. 21 and May 30. The district has added two extra days at the end of the year in June and has petitioned the state for a waiver to account for the fifth day.
