Budget-busting snow: Some LI leaders say they've exceeded snow budgets for 2026, must use reserve funds
Some Long Island town leaders tell News 12 they've already exceeded their snow budgets for 2026 and must use their reserve funds.
More Stories
The deep cold that lasted nearly two weeks on Long Island is one of the reasons some town leaders are now telling News 12 that they had to dip into reserve funds from their budget this year for snow removal operations.
Some towns that have recently approved using reserve funds are Brookhaven, East Hampton and Southold.
As News 12 first reported just a couple of days after the Jan. 25 storm, town leaders said they were still gathering final numbers on how much was spent for snow removal operations.
News 12 spoke with Town of Southold Superintendent of Highways Daniel Goodwin.
He says Southold town leaders recently signed off on his request for $80,000 more for sand and rock salt for this year.
"One of the biggest challenges for us this year has been the duration of these storms, that they've really been long, drawn-out storm events, rather than sort of quick, come in, respond to it and be able to move on...we've had several events that have only been a few inches of snow, but they've taken us thirty plus hours to respond to, start to finish." said Goodwin. "Even if you have a trace amount of snow or trace amount of ice or even just moisture on the road that ends up freezing that requires application of a material to treat the road."
"In the end of last year in 2025, we had a fair amount of snow events in December, which typically we would have that material as a reserve going into the winter of 26. We were able to refill with some of the tail end of last year's money in our budget, but we did have a little bit of a deficit of what we typically have heading into January in 26." said Goodwin.
As News 12 first reported a couple of days after the Jan. 25 storm, Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said, "when we put our budget together, we account for a number of storms, this is the first big storm this year, so it's not going to affect a town service, people are not going to miss out on some other project because of the cost."
Some Suffolk town leaders say that January storm and another storm that dumped more than 8 inches of snow in Montauk is adding not just to snow totals but also to prolonged snow removal operations.
At a recent meeting, East Hampton Town leaders just gave the green light for an additional $210,000 dollars for subcontractors and snow removal supplies.
In the Town of Brookhaven, News 12 was told that the 2026 snow budget is $3,419,574, and snow spending through Feb. 10 is an estimated $5,444,000.
Town leaders say that breaks down to $3,223,297 for salt and sand, an estimated $800,000 for overtime and $1,421,681 for hired vendors.
In the Town of Huntington, Supervisor Ed Smyth tells News 12 the budget for salt, sand, overtime and equipment for 2026 is $1,565,000.
Smyth says while they are still waiting for some final invoices for snow removal costs to the town.
"I do anticipate we'll probably exceed what we've budgeted for, but we also do have reserve funds, which is exactly what this is for when we exceed the budget," he said.
