Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Erie County officials have reached an agreement from an outside company to help address some of the recent rock salt shortages in Western New York.
The Erie County Department of Public Works and the Mark Poloncarz administration have reached an agreement to procure rock salt with Compass Minerals of Kansas City, and the supplier will be sending 1,000 tons of salt a day, beginning this weekend, from their mine in Hamilton, Ontario.
The salt will be offloaded at the Port of Buffalo, with 5,000 tons anticipated to be on hand by next week. Compass can then provide up to 10,000 tons after that as officials evaluate need.
"The salt issue has been a difficult one and it has taken a lot of work from numerous individuals to procure the necessary supplies, as all municipalities are in the same position. The agreement with Compass eases much of the stress we’ve all been feeling, and I thank Commissioner William Geary for his work to address this issue," said the Erie County Executive in a statement. "We will continue to treat county roads as we normally would in winter and will help out municipalities as we can."
The salt will be transferred to Erie County highway facilities for use on county roads, and can be delivered from there to cities, towns or villages, depending on need and availability.
Compass will be charging Erie County $82 per-ton which includes delivery.