Taylor County skirts sizable bill by picking up its own road salt

Sometimes it is cheaper to just do it yourself.

Taylor County learned that lesson when the county got questioned on salt prices for road salt.

At Tuesday’s highway committee meeting, county highway commissioner Ben Stanfley told committee members that, like most counties, Taylor County had always taken the state bid for the salt, assuming it would be the best option.

“We were getting gouged,” Stanfley said. The county purchased 893 tons of salt to fill up the salt shed this year, and saved $23,000 in expenses by getting it themselves and hauling it from Green Bay. Not only was there a direct savings to the county, there was also $9,300 worth of labor for the department and $13,000 that went into the county’s equipment fund from use of the trucks for hauling it.

Stanfley said that with salt expected to go up 10 to 15% over last year in cost, seeing any savings is good. He also noted that the impacts of the president’s tariffs remains to be seen. In general salt that comes from Great Lakes ports like Superior or Green Bay are shipped from Canada while salt from Mississippi River ports is domestically produced.

Committee member Rod Adams asked if the trucks went to Green Bay empty to pick up the salt. “When you dead-head you don’t make any money,” he said. Adams noted that Ovyn trucks a lot of material to the Superior area, another location where loads of salt are delivered, and questioned if the county could do the same when going to pick up salt.

Bridge aid Highway committee members approved a number of bridge aid requests. Stanfley said he anticipates the county will see a larger number of requests this year with the inspections of smaller culverts taking place.

In the town of Deer Creek the committee approved splitting the cost with the town for a culvert replacement on Ruby Dr. (located .66 miles north of CTH A) at a total cost of $20,370. The committee also approved Pine Ave. (1.27 miles east of Hwy 13) at a cost of $7,676.

In the town of Medford, the committee approved replacing a culvert on Perkinstown Ave. (.32 miles east of Sunset Road) at a total cost of $19,784. The price does not include replacement of blacktop because the road is being milled and ground and will be repaved next year. Stanfley said he did not bring a second bridge aid request from the town of Medford to the committee because the culvert was in good shape and did not need to be replaced at this time.

In the town of Rib Lake, the committee approved replacing a culvert on Wood Lake Ave. (.33 miles west of Blank Road) at a cost of $22,572. The road is currently closed in that area due to the culvert collapsing.

In the town of Taft, the committee approved replacing a Culver on Pinewood Drive (.2 miles east of School Road) at a cost of $18,660.

Under the county bridge aid program, the county picks up 50% of the cost of a culvert replacement with the town picking up the remaining 50%.

In other business, committee members:

• Approved a resolution recognizing Don Koerner for 23 years as a highway department patrolman.

• Approved moving forward with replacing two patrolmen. In addition to the one due to Koerner’s retirement, Stanfley reported that one of the newer hires had gone back to their previous employer leaving the department with two vacancies.

• Received a report from Stanfley that the county had placed tracking devices on road signs that have a history of being stolen. He said the flashing stop sign by CTH A and CTH E was recently stolen and was able to be tracked to Barron County where deputies retrieved it from an individual’s garage. At $2,000 for a replacement lighted sign and post, the county has already repaid the investment made into purchasing the tracking devices.