The past winter was rough in the area, as well as across the country.
Peotone and surrounding communities were socked with some massive snowfalls and states across the country set records during February blizzards.
The result was a nationwide shortage of road salt, which caused a hike in the cost of the salt.
At the Aug. 10 village board meeting, Peotone officials made a salt purchase and bit the bullet on a rate hike but felt it could have been worse.
The board voted to purchase 300 tons of salt from West Chicago-based Midwest Salt at a price of $118 per ton.
Last year, through the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, Peotone joined other communities and received a bulk rate of $66 per ton. However, the CMS did not receive any bulk bids and suggested Peotone officials should get the salt on their own.
Originally, the village was quoted $132.45 per ton, but Peotone partnered with Manhattan and the combination helped bring the price down a little.
“It’s over what we budgeted, but we think we can accommodate this with our savings from some of the other projects,” said Village Administrator Nick Palmer. “This is the best option.”
As it did in the past, the village plans on helping out Peotone Community Unit School District 207U with providing salt during the winter, but Public Works Director Bob Hennke said that the village is the top priority.
Peotone has 75 tons of salt on hand and the extra 300 should be able to be enough for the village in 2026-2027.
“Last year was an issue. I don’t think this year is an issue unless we have a really bad winter,” Hennke said.
Route 50 project stalled
Hennke said the work on Route 50 has suffered a setback that will push the completion date into 2027.
“It’s back in the design stage,” he said. “They determined that the gas main from Beecher Road to Wilmington Road is too shallow.
“So, it will most likely not be done during this project year.”
South/Fourth project moving along
Village Engineer Troy Golem reported that the Motor Fuel Tax project on South and Fourth streets is moving forward with old concrete removals on the curb and sidewalks taking place and fresh concrete being ready to be poured.
“When the concrete is done, that’s when they will start working on the milling of the street and the asphalt,” he said. “They will remove two inches of the concrete or asphalt on the street and we’ll see if they need to patch any concrete.
“Once it’s down to the correct level to make repairs, there will be two levels of asphalt for the whole thing.”
Clean audit
Hannah Cullerton of Lauterbach and Amen LLP gave an update on the audit and proclaimed it to be “clean.”
The village had $27 million in assets and $9.6 million in liability. It had $6.5 million in revenue and $4.8 million in expenses.
She added that last year’s fund balance deficit had vanished and now is in the black.