Attorney, highway departments deal with shortages
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

It's been a rough year on the Town of Amherst in regard to salt and settlements.

The town attorney's office has requested that $10,000 be transferred from the contingency budget to cover an excessive amount of legal cases.

"We have nine appeals in the appellate division; that's more than triple the amount we normally have," Town Attorney Tom Jones said.

In a letter to Comptroller Darlene Carroll, he stated that there are normally one to two appeals a year and money is budgeted accordingly.

"We are going to have at least $12,000 in unexpected expenses as a result of this," he said, adding that $2,000 can most likely be absorbed by the attorney's office.

When asked the reason for the excessive number of cases, Jones said, "The Town Board has made certain decisions that, primarily developers, didn't like, in the last couple years."

He expects the issue to be addressed at the Monday, March 17 Town Board meeting under the comptroller's report.

He added that there are almost 20 land use and contract cases, twice the normal amount in a year.

"Every time the town is sued in a land use case it's a large project," he said about printing costs for the records and briefs.

There are land use issues on hold, and should they become active, the attorney's office may need more funding to cover the massive files and transcripts.

The Highway Department is facing a different sort of shortage. The supply of salt across Western New York has been a topic of conversation among highway departments.

Amherst Highway Superintendent Bob Anderson said the town is currently in OK shape, but as any Western New Yorker knows, snow doesn't always end in March.

"The state didn't buy enough, and now there is a wait to get salt," he said Monday.

The town had 1,000 tons remaining, with 2 inches of snow expected later in the week. He said that on average, 750 tons of salt in a six-hour shift would be used in such a snowfall.

Anderson said a lot of towns have been cut off, not able to receive more salt at this time, with the average delivery time extended. He said the town had ordered another 1,000 tons and expected it in about three days.

"Its been a hard year. We have used more than before," he said, adding that although there haven't been large snowstorms there were still many occasions when salting was required.

At this time the town is saving the salt for hills and intersections.