After getting stung by a 25-percent jump in the price of road salt a year ago, this winter the city will pay 15-percent less than last.
Unlike 2008, when municipalities were excluded from the state bidding process, this year they were entitled to piggyback on the state bid. Granite State Minerals of Portsmouth won the bid with a low price of $59.33 per ton. However, purchasing officer Jonathan Gardner said that the city also solicited independent bids and opted out of the state bid when Morton Salt, which has proven a reliable supplier in the past, offered a price of $53.11.
Ann Saltmarsh of the Department of Public Works said that the city will pay $27,990, or 10-percent, less for its purchase of 4,500 tons of salt than if it had adopted the state bid. Moreover, the $53.11 per ton is not only well below the $62.73 per ton paid in the winter of 2008-2009 but also much less than what was budgeted for 2009-2010, when the price was projected to rise 20-percent.
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