Lower-than-expected snowfall has school and city officials singing Mother Nature’s praises as they attempt to save money but still protect services in a tight budget climate.

Bob Albanese, associate vice president of Finance and Facilities, said the lower snowfall is critical because the university has budgeted $60,000 to $80,000 for overtime costs this year, which primarily go toward snow removal. Last year, $80,000 to $100,000 was budgeted.

This leaves NIU officials walking a fine line, Albanese said.

“We have been very careful,” he said. “Here we got less money available, but we don’t want to reduce the level of service. What we are trying to do is not have as much overtime that kicks into double-time. We try and manage it aggressively. It is really not the ideal management situation.”

Mark Espy, DeKalb’s assistant director of public works, said snow removal remains unaffected by the state’s budget crunch.

“We put snow removal very high on our list of priorities,” Espy said. “The state revenue has impacted other areas of our budget, but we try and maintain our current level of funding for snow and ice control materials. There are certain areas, like office furniture, without [top priority], but you can’t get by without your snow removal program.”

Albanese said NIU’s spending also is down.

“If we had 10 or 12 snowfalls, there would be no way that we could have enough budget money to do it, but we would have to take a look at what institutional funds are available and maybe cut back the service,” Albanese said. “We have not yet got to that point, and I suspect we won’t this year because we have gotten by half of November, December and half of January, and we are in good shape. We are always hoping to get by with less than we spent the previous year.”

NIU staff meteorologist Gilbert Sebenste said while low snowfall is good news for NIU, it is not good for local farmers.

“[University officials] don’t want more snowfall, but for farmers and for the water tables, we definitely need it,” Sebenste said. “We wound up last year with a little over eight inches of rain, short for the entire year, so we are in a big drought right now and to overcome it, we need more snow this winter. For farmers, if we have a lot of snow during a winter, the water, as it gradually melts through the spring, will seep into the ground and provide a healthy amount of moisture for the crops during the growing season.”

Sebenste said he does not expect much to change in weather in the coming months.

“At this point, I don’t expect to see a lot of snow soon, but I do expect to see a lot more cold air coming in over the next few weeks and through the next month,” he said.