Rock salt prices decline

Supervisors approve bid for purchase; rainy weather still dampening Lederach Golf Club income

LOWER SALFORD » At least one thing isn’t going up in price.

At its September 6 meeting, the Lower Salford Township Board of Supervisors approved a bid through a consortium of Montgomery County towns to purchase rock salt for clearing snow and ice off township roads this winter.

“The price for delivered salt per ton is gonna be $49.42 and last year it was $59.73, so it’s gone down over $10 a ton,” board Chairman Doug Gifford said.

Lower Salford expects to use about 1,500 tons of salt each year, Township Manager Joe Czajkowski said following the meeting.

The board also chose to use the “actual cost” option for its agreement to clear snow and ice from state roads in the township. The other option is to accept a flat rate for the year, regardless of how much snow there is.

The township receives more money through the “actual cost” option than it previously did when the flat rate was the only choice, Gifford said.

In other matters at the meeting:

• This summer’s rainy weather continues to plague the township-owned Lederach Golf Club, Gifford said.

“Not quite as bad as May, but we had 11 days of rain in the month of July,” he said.

That left the course coming in with $41,000 less net operating income during July than the budgeted amount, he said.

“We will not be in the red,” for the year, Gifford said, “but we’re under budget significantly.”

The August numbers won’t be much better than July’s, he said.

September, however, has the highest number of golf outing events of any month, he said.

“We have 11 outings scheduled, so that should help,” Gifford said.

Overall this year, the numbers are “kind of ugly news,” he said, but said things could be worse.

• Fire Chief Kevin Wasson said Harleysville Fire Company will have its annual fire prevention open house 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7.

“My grandkids have gone the last few years and they always have a good time,” Gifford said.