Swampscott Eyes Another Heavy Snow

Two weeks after the historic blizzard that buried Swampscott under two feet of snow Department of Public Works crews are still hauling snow from piles at intersections and dead ends.

Meanwhile, DPW Director Gino Cresta has his eyes on a possible late-weekend snowstorm that forecasters say could drop anywhere from six inches to a foot in the Boston area.

The brewing storm was too distant to gauge likely impact, forecasters said Wednesday night, but if deep wet snow arrives it would have a heavy impact on Swampscott's snow removal budget.

Already this season the town has spent $140,000 of its $170,000 snow removal funds, the director said.

Most of the $140,000 went to battling the Feb. 9 and 10 storm, the dollars covering expenses including overtime, contractors, sand and salt.

Last season, the winter of 2011-12,, the town spent only small fraction of its $150,000 budgeted for snow removal, the director said in a previous interview.

And a year earlier, during the snow heavy 2010-11 season, DPW overspent its snow budget by $177,000, the director said.