By Adam Hocking

Editor

MARSHFIELD —The City of Marshfield’s snow removal budget for 2014 has been depleted due to the early onset of wintery conditions this November and an especially snowy spring earlier this year.

However, Mayor Chris Meyer emphasized that the budget shortfall is not a major cause for concern.

“The city maintains a contingency account for these purposes, and there are generally other budgets that have some surplus that can cover this. This is not an emergency,” Meyer said.

Meyer added that historically snow removal services have been “over-budgeted” in Marshfield and that the budget was adjusted two years ago to more accurately address snow removal needs. Now the snow removal budget is based on the average cost of providing the services over the last ten years.

Meyer added, “We didn’t ‘run out of money.’ We just are experiencing a higher cost than anticipated. Almost every city is. This isn’t some extraordinary issue that is going to result in roads not being plowed or emergency action by the council. We continue to conduct business as we always have. I cannot stress this enough. Nothing will change with snow removal. We simply have to pay more than expected.”

Meyer said action by the Marshfield City Council will need to be taken in order to address the shortfall but that such action is routine.