While tenders for sand and salt for the 2022/23 winter season have been skyrocketing across the province, some advance planning has meant Collingwood and the County of Simcoe likely won’t face extreme rising costs to keep roads safe this winter.
Earlier this month, councillors in Grey Highlands were floored when their tenders for sand and salt for the 2022/23 season came in at nearly double the expected cost compared to previous years, due to rising inflation. While $147,000 had been budgeted for the tender, the winning tender came in at $276,641.50 plus HST.
When contacted by CollingwoodToday.ca, Collingwood’s Manager of Public Works Daniel Cole said the town entered into a three-year winter sand supply contract in 2019 with their sand vendor, with an additional two optional years.
“As we now are entering our first year of the optional contract extension, we have been in confidential discussions with, and are continuing to work and negotiate with our local vendor/supplier to reach agreement on this season’s pricing,” said Cole.
“While we anticipate that there will be an increase, we are confident that we can reach an agreement on pricing that is both transparent and fair to both the corporation and the residents of Collingwood and supplier themselves.”
Last year’s (2021/22) sand pricing for the Town of Collingwood was $13.72/metric ton.
The town also belongs to the Georgian Bay Area Public Purchasing Co-operative for various services including the supply of winter salts. Since signing on to the co-operative in 2021, Cole says costs have remained steady.
“Fixed and known rates were secured at that time and the co-operative has in recent months confirmed that no increases, aside from those submitted through the tendering process in 2021, are being considered,” said Cole.
In 2021/2022, the town paid $92 per metric ton for salt. In 2022/2023 through the multi-year contract, costs are expected to go up to $93.84 per metric ton.
At the County of Simcoe level, Christian Meile, director of transportation and engineering with the county, says costs for winter sand for county roads are only expected to increase between two and five per cent in the 2022/23 season.
For salt, the County of Simcoe also participates in the Georgian Bay Purchasing Co-operative, which means costs will remain steady.
“We have confirmed with the vendor that a two per cent increase will be honoured for the 2022/2023 winter season,” said Meile. “Thanks to our multi-year contracts and group purchasing practices, county residents will experience relatively moderate increases to winter maintenance materials.”
