Road Salt for 2009/2010

The price of a ton of road salt should be significantly lower this winter.

From about $50 a ton to $150, the price of road salt soared to almost three times its average amount last winter.

Several news outlets reported a shortage in road salt for many states across the nation.

However, the president of the Salt Institute in Alexandria, Va., said there was no shortage.

USA Today reported in 2008 cities trying to stock up on road salt before snow came.

With the cost of transportation and demand for salt high, and supply low, the report said the cost of a ton of road salt had doubled, and in some places tripled.

Saddle River and Ridgewood, N.J., protested its county’s decision in September 2008, to sell municipalities less road salt because of high prices.

Saddle River endured a loss of 37 tons of salt last winter.

Borough administrator Charles Cuccia wrote to the county Bergen stating Saddle River’s elevation was over 300 feet making its winter road conditions worse than most.

Ridgewood only received 69 tons of salt compared to 100 the previous year.

Chris Rutishauser, director of public works for Ridgewood, wrote in a letter to Bergen, “The Village is very concerned that this reduction in the sale allotment per storm or event for the county roads in the village will negatively impact our ability to provide the required service.”

West Virginia experienced a shortage like many other states.

Bob Whipp, district six engineer, said his company previously salted roads twice in Wheeling, W.Va., to speed up the melting process.

However, last November his company only used the minimum amount recommended by the Salt Institute.

This year, the West Virginia Department of Highways is taking action early.

Communications officer for the DOH, Karen Zamow, said the state already has a contract for 125,000 tons of road salt costing $68 a ton.

She said the DOH ordered 90,000 tons of salt at $130 a ton last year.

Zamow stressed, however, the West Virginia Division of Transportation did have enough salt for the roadways last year.

“While there was a market shortage, which costs the Division more than double what it budgets for and spends on roadway salt in a typical winter season, the Division had an adequate supply of salt,” she said. “With that adequate supply, roadway crews maintained DOH protocol for snow and ice removal.”

In December 2008, the Associated Press reported St. Louis, Ill., was “hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.”

The Salt Institute president, Dick Hanneman, said more cities should have prepared sooner.
"Nobody ran out of salt," he said.

In February and May 2008, Hanneman spoke at conferences and sent out press releases stressing preparation for the upcoming winter.

He said states needed to buy early to ensure the amount of salt they could receive. He also said when salt is bought pre-season, it is cheaper.

Hanneman said states and cities were "panic-buying" road salt last winter after the season had already begun.

Hanneman suggested, in the previously mentioned press releases, states should buy salt early to avoid price increases.

The Associated Press said St. Louis, Ill., paid $48 a ton in December 2008, which was a 30 percent increase from the year before.

Lucian Kimler, city of Huntington’s street division supervisor, said Huntington paid about $120 a ton of salt last winter, much more than St. Louis.

He said the City “used quite a bit more (salt) last year,” than the previous year. However, he said Huntington never technically ran out of salt.

Kimler said, for the upcoming winter, the city of Huntington has about 150 tons of salt on standby.

There was enough salt for each state, Hanneman said. Although, some states did not get the full amount as requested.

Hanneman said the salt was rationed out to each state.

He said, "We should be in decent shape to prepare for it," referring to the upcoming winter 2009/2010.

He stressed if state departments would do as the Salt Institute recommended, there would be no problem with salt "shortages" this winter.

From Iowa, the Quad-City Times reported June 21, 2009, that under the bidding process of Central Management Services, Rock Island County, Ill., paid just over $130 a ton of road salt last year, while surrounding counties paid between $50 and $80 a ton.

The Illinois attorney general’s office investigated CMS, according to the report, and found no illegal activity.

The report said the price increase was due to “numerous economic factors.”

The Auditor General’s audit of CMS stated the company, “allegedly allowed one salt provider, Cargill, to change the terms and conditions of its bid after the bid opening.”

Because of this, the potential amount of salt Cargill could provide was reduced to about 300,000 tons.

The audit also stated no other salt providers were given the chance to change their terms or conditions.

Doug House, Moline, Ill.’s, municipal services general manager, said he doesn’t know if the town will use CMS in the future.

Cities and states have come up with ideas to get through another winter season.

East St. Louis, Ill., planned to stretch their salt supply in December 2008, by mixing it with sand, brine (water saturated with salt, usually sodium chloride) or beat juice.

To ensure low salt prices, the Indiana Department of Administration announced in April 2009, it will, “partner with local units of government for road salt purchases for the 2009/2010 winter season, helping local communities get the salt they'll need when the weather turns rough,” Elizabeth Lerch, reporter for IN.gov, said.

In the past, salt vendors did not extend state salt pricing to cities, towns, or school districts in Indianapolis because those local governments could not commit their volumes to contract.

With the IDOA and the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns partnering, the size of the combined volume will offer the availability of salt at a much lower price.

The bottom line is that cities and states need to request road salt as early as March and April to ensure a good deal.

Hanneman said cities began buying road salt in late July last year. He said that was when several customers started “panic-buying,” and inflating the cost.

Huntington, W.Va., already has 150 tons on hand for the upcoming winter. Kimler doesn’t expect to pay high prices or run out of salt this year.

Huntington City Mission

Private contributions to the Huntington City Mission have declined by eight percent between October 2008, and April, 2009.

Even with the decline, Vanetta Johnson, director of finance for the City Mission, said the organization is still managing to provide enough food and shelter to people in need.

She said the organization, “has to assume the reason for the decline is the overall economy,” and if the economy gets even worse, she’s not sure how the organization will be affected.

According to the organization’s registration statement, the amount of income derived from fund-raising totaled just over $1.6 million, but the organization paid $117,411 in fund-raising expenses, which is a seven percent disbursement.

Administrative and program expenses totaled over $1.4 million.

In 2007, the organization’s tax return listed six board members, but only one was paid as the executive director of the City Mission.

The organization also received $282,730 from government grants or private foundations last year to provide adequate food and shelter for the homeless and low-income.

Since 1939, the Huntington City Mission has had one purpose: “to be able to feed the homeless and low-income in the community and shelter the homeless,” according to the organization’s registration statement.

With contributions declining, the organization may have a difficult time providing that service to the community.

Jack Bazemore, president of the board of directors for the Huntington City Mission, said, “We feed more and house more now than usual.”

He said individuals who stay at the mission receive three meals a day and any people from the community who come in for a meal are fed as well.

“We feed a lot of people, 1,000s of people,” Bazemore said.

Bazemore has been at the City Mission for thirty years and said, “(The economy) fluctuates certainly up and down to some extent.”

Johnson said the organization’s biggest donor is confidential and said the mission is not a United Way agency, but individuals can designate their United Way donation to the City Mission.

Also, Bazemore said the organization, “netted $35,000,” at a golf tournament the organization arranged in June, 2009.

To raise that amount of money is, “very unusual,” he said because golf tournaments only bring in “about $12,000 to $15,000.”

That money will help provide food and adequate shelter for struggling members of the community.

Johnson said she is not worried about the organization closing at this point and is secure in knowing contributions are still coming in.

For now, the Huntington City Mission will continue to serve the low-income and homeless in the community and surrounding areas.

Case Studies 9 & 10

The case study from chapter nine dealt with a legal con. Thomas Dowling, a reporter for the Ridgeland Register-News & Review, found out several people were solicited by phone or mail or they responded to an ad in the paper about direct sales. The offer was to invest in a community development project. The catch being the guests had to sign the contract on the evening of a dinner explaining the deal. They had a year to check out the property. If they weren't pleased, they could get their money back.

Dowling spoke with the attorney general in Arizona about the development project. The attorney general explained most people don't take the time out of that year to see the land, and then they're stuck in the contract. He told Dowling, however, the scheme wasn't illegal.

Dowling wanted to interview local community members who had been taken in by the scheme, but not many people were willing to talk about money they'd lost or being duped into a scam. He did, however, get one couple to agree to speak and be photographed. He did so by meeting with them as soon as possible and explaining to them why they needed to tell their story to stop this type of scheme. I think Dowling did what he needed to do to get the interview. They weren't sure they should talk at first, but when they get their story out there, others will be cautious when seeing another ad like that in the paper.

After Dowling's story was published, several more people came forward stating they'd been reeled into a similar scheme. Dowling reported a very common scam happening to middle-aged and elderly people and possibly helped his community in recognizing the same sort of scheme. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

In the case study from chapter 10, Anne Fortunato, a feature writer for Great Forks Herald-Times, was researching a new clinic that treated patients with, "coffee enemas," "foot reflexology" and "ground-up plant leaves from Brazil."

Fortunato found out a Coastal City newspaper was being sued by the clinic for stating Doctor Cornucopia was banned from practicing medicine in that state. Cornucopia sued the paper stating he had appealed the case and it was not yet final. When Fortunato contacted the reporter who wrote the doctor's story, she wouldn't comment on it because of the lawsuit. She simply said, "Good luck!"

Fortunato pitched the story to her editors and, with some discussion, was allowed to move forward with another senior investigative reporter. Fortunato immediately met with Cornucopia to get his side of the story. He explained his methods very carefully and didn't say he was practicing medicine or curing cancer. He also didn't associate his business with the hospital in any way.

Cornucopia gave Fortunato a list of patients who were satisfied with his treatments. He strongly suggested she used them in the story or he would assume she was being malicious and would prompt his attorneys of the situation. Fortunato decided to find other patients from the license plate numbers on the cars in the facility's parking lot. I think doing so would give her an unbiased opinion from people who received treatments at the clinic. The testimonials from Cornucopia's list could be from close friends of his.

All the patients Fortunato interviewed said Cornucopia put them on a pure foods diet with food they could order from his mail order house. One of the patients claimed she was cured of cancer because of Cornucopia. However, one patient said she became ill from eating peapods from Nepal suggested by Cornucopia. When she visited her medical doctor, she found out she never had cancer.

Also, the machine Cornucopia was using to evaluate a person's health was nothing more than a soil detector. Fortunato confronted Cornucopia before walking into the facility one day. He had a bag of greasy food from a fast food restaurant in his hand. He said, "Well, you have to treat yourself once in a while." I'm sure he didn't advise his patients to do so.

Fortunato ran with the story the same time a competitor did. The competitor's story gave praise to the new-age facility and used the same testimonials Cornucopia had given Fortunato. Fortunato's story was much more impressive, revealing the problems with the clinic, not just seeing it for face-value. Fortunato did the investigative work and was considered a serious journalist for it.

The facility closed up shop and moved to New Jersey.