FREEPORT – The overtime budget is something he will have to keep an eye on, concedes Earl Gibson, superintendent of the Freeport Public Works Department. But when it comes to the supply of sand and salt, the town is in good shape, despite the heavy snows of December and February.

Gibson credits his crew – plus a little bit of ingenuity – for the good news.

The town had 28 percent of its salt remaining going into last Thursday night’s ice storm, and was still using sand left over from last year.

“I’m going to attribute that to the fact that we’ve changed the way we do things, and I’m going to attribute that to my crew,” Gibson said. “We’re in good shape.”

As most towns do, Freeport uses a combination of salt and sand to cover its roads during storms. On colder days, Gibson said, his crew might go a little heavier on the salt for melting, while it might use more sand on warmer days, for traction.

The Town Council budgeted $143,000 for winter public works material, Gibson said. Only $5,000 of that is for sand, and the sand leftover from last year is coming in handy.

“That’s a huge blessing right now because we’ve used what we bought,” he said.

The town spends $120,000 for salt, he said.

The change? A little trick Gibson learned while he was working in the Northwest. The word is spreading, so to speak.

Gibson and his crew pre-treat their salt with Ice B’Gone. They spend about an hour mixing the liquid de-icer with each day’s load of road salt.

“That has helped us dramatically,” Gibson said. “We have used less salt. It doesn’t bounce off the road. That material stays on the road.”

Gibson said that his workers are careful about making the most of their time and material. He pitches in, operating the sidewalk plow and sometimes one of the road plows.

“I am the first one in the door and that last one to leave,” he said.

The overtime situation is a different story. Public works had used up 77 percent of its allotted $68,000 in overtime pay as of last Thursday.

If they run out of overtime money, Gibson said, “we’ll have to look at other ways to do the job.”

In Pownal, Road Commissioner Shawn Bennett said Monday that his overtime and sand budgets are in decent condition, but the cold weather has taken its toll on his salt supply.

“I’m praying for a good March and April,” Bennett said.

Bennett said that his salt usage is $6,000 over the budgeted $27,000. In order to make up the difference, his crew will have to reduce road paving and spring maintenance work, Bennett said.

By trading some loam for sand last autumn, the town had an ample supply of sand this winter, Bennett said. A total of $6,000 is budgeted for sand.

“We’re still sitting good on sand,” Bennett said.

Bennett works with a $19,000 overtime budget – nearly all of it for winter plowing, he said. As of Monday, there was $5,000 remaining, he said.

“If we have a good March, we’ll be fine on overtime,” he said.

The road commissioner’s winter roads budget this year is $581,359. The budget cycle ends on June 30.

Durham is in the process of organizing its first public works department, but for this last winter is still contracting out to Michael Copp for its winter roads maintenance, this year for $702,500.

Jeff Wakeman, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said Monday that the contractor must do the job needed, and that supplies and overtime are not the town’s problem.

“That’s part of the bidding process,” Wakeman said. “They have to figure out where to put that number.”

Wakeman said the town hopes to begin hiring public works employees in mid-April.

Earl Gibson, superintendent of Freeport Public Works, points to a salt supply that is in surprisingly good shape despite the onslaught of snow in February.