Snow budgets already being looked at

Bridgeport (WTNH) - With flurries in the forecast cities and towns all across Connecticut will likely have snow budgets on the mind.

Every elected official likely hopes Mother Nature takes it easy on us this year. Every storm costs money, and money is thighter this year than it's been in a long time.

You may remember last year Bridgeport seemed to be in real trouble, and at one point there was talk about the city being two snowstorms away from bankruptcy.

But Mayor Bill Finch says the crisis was averted by working down a twenty million dollar budget deficit. He says the turnaround came thanks to concessions made by city unions. So despite all the storms, the city got back in the black.

"Mother Nature really - as did the economy - dealt us a very difficult blow," the mayor said. "But as I said, we took a $20 million deficit - part of that was the snow budget - and we balanced it. And we did it because 10 of 11 unions came to the table and did givebacks."

As for this year, the plows are still in the public facilities yard. They're expecting just rain for this next storm. But when the snow does come, Mayor Finch says they are ready.

Thank to the unions, enough money is there for snow removal. Still, no one would mind if Mother Nature went easy on the snow this year.