Photo by Jessica Stewart / St. Joseph News-Press

Chuck Baker, load operator for the city of St. Joseph, restocks salt Friday afternoon at the city yards.

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When it comes to salt, Gary Leftin needs more than a pinch.

Record snowfall in December means that Mr. Leftin, St. Joseph’s superintendent of streets and sewers, has plenty to worry about as the city’s mountain of salt dwindles in January. The city Street Department used 4,800 tons of salt to treat St. Joseph streets in December, leaving only 2,300 for the rest of the winter.

The city needed only 4,737 tons to get through the entire 2006 to 2007 winter season.

“A fella feels pretty comfortable with 7,000 tons of salt on hand,” Mr. Leftin said. “We already used probably 4,000 tons of salt before winter even hit. If we have another month like we did in December, it will be a concern.”

The city ordered an additional 4,000 tons of salt, which normally come from mines in Kansas. With many other municipalities in the same boat, Mr. Leftin can only wait and hope the cost doesn’t skyrocket and the supplies arrive in time for the next storm.

“The question is getting here,” he said. “They’re running about a month behind.”

He said the city has made about $100,000 available for additional salt.

In the event of heavy snow and a salt shortage, the city could resort to limiting salt to major routes or mixing other materials in the supply to make it last longer.

Right now, all he can do is watch the weather.

St. Joseph normally receives 3 inches of snow in December and 4.7 inches in January. The city doubled the two-month average with 14.9 inches in December alone. This weekend’s forecast calls for no snow and temperatures in the 40s.

For Mr. Leftin, that brings a whole new set of problems. Spring potholes lurk underneath all those miles of melting and freezing snow.

“I think it was Wednesday when we started filling potholes,” he said. “So far, we’ve had a pretty good crop on a couple of streets.”