MUNCIE, Ind. — It hasn’t taken long for Mother Nature to test the city of Muncie’s cuts in salting and plowing streets: A light dusting of snow created plenty of headaches for motorists Friday.
“It was a complete sheet of ice,” complained one motorist, Pauletta Hummel. “It was terrible.”
Superintendent of Public Works Jonathan Morehead announced last week that the street department no longer had the money to pay overtime to snow plow drivers, so the city won’t salt or plow streets except from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, its regular business hours.
The Star Press reported callers began phoning with complaints about the slick streets Friday morning after the overnight snowfall.
Mayor Sharon McShurley has suggested motorists drive slowly.
“We’re still going to be plowing snow,” McShurley told the newspaper in a Thursday evening interview before the snow began to fall. “It may not get done as quickly as we used to in the past, and it may take longer.”
The budget crunch comes from lower state gasoline and cigarette tax revenues, which fund municipal street departments.
Police and emergency responders are predicting more accidents in Muncie this winter.
“I don’t think Mother Nature is going to cooperate and drop the snow and ice from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday,” said Sgt. Bruce Qualls, supervisor of Muncie Police Department’s traffic enforcement unit.
Qualls said motorists are simply going to have to adjust, and be aware that morning commutes will be worse this winter.
“I don’t like it either, but it’s a fact of life we are going to have to learn to deal with,” he said.
Delaware County’s 911 center reported 23 accidents countywide between midnight and about 2 p.m. Friday, with most occurring inside city limits. The number of accidents caused by weather was unknown. By comparison, 32 accidents were reported countywide all day on the previous Friday, Nov. 14.
City attorney Charles Clark said he did not believe the plowing and salting cutback would make the city more vulnerable to lawsuits from people involved in weather-related accidents.
“The city’s not liable,” he said. “We (as motorists) have a responsibility to maintain control over our car.”
McShurley said she and other mayors will lobby state legislators to change the funding mechanisms for municipal street departments so they are not so dependent on fluctuating gas and tobacco sales.
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