A slew of North Hills communities are stockpiling winter road material as they try to deal with an alarming 156 percent increase in road salt prices.

The North Hills Council of Governments, which represents 20 North Hills communities, received only one road salt bid this year, from Morton Salt, at $104.01 per ton. The price last year, also with Morton, was $40.56 per ton.

"We feel fairly fortunate that our supplier did give us a bona fide bid," said Wayne Roller, executive director of the North Hills COG.

Lawrence County, he added, didn't receive any bids this year for road salt.

The North Hills COG didn't ask for rebids because of the possibility the prices would come in even higher or no bids would come in at all, Mr. Roller said.

From what COG officials are being told by suppliers, the increase in price has more to do with availability of the salt than anything else.

The nation used 24 million tons of salt last year compared to 18 million tons during an average winter, Mr. Roller said.

Harsh winters last year in the Midwest and flooding along rivers in the South not only depleted rock salt supplies, but hampered deliveries, said Lou Gorski, executive director of the South Hills Area COG.

People here are often surprised to learn that severe weather in other places can affect something like rock salt supplies, he added.

"Last year, this particular area wasn't that bad. We only had about three weeks of really bad weather. The Midwest, however, got hit hard," Mr. Gorski said.

A hard winter is not something local officials want to even think about.

For the small community of Bradford Woods, an average winter will mean the cost of treating just 8 miles of road will jump from $10,140 to more than $23,400.

"All of us are stockpiling," said Mary Ann Moretti, borough secretary. "We are stuck between a rock and a hard place."

Under the old four-year contract with Morton, North Hills COG communities gave an estimate of how many tons of salt they wanted to buy.

According to that contract, they had to order at least 60 percent of that estimate up front. The company guaranteed to fill the other 40 percent later.

The contract also allowed the communities to order an extra 50 percent of the full tonnage estimate.

The new contract stipulates that communities order 90 percent of their estimate up front and only allows them to order an extra 10 percent beyond their full estimate.

To help save money, many communities are buying as much as they can under their old contract -- in other words maxing out on their prior tonnage estimate -- before that contract expires at the end of the month.

Mr. Roller said there is about 12,000 tons of salt available to North Hills COG members under the old contract.

Earlier this week, Ms. Moretti put together an order for as much road salt as she could under the old contract. She ordered 22 tons at the old price, maxing out that contract, and ordered 225 tons under the new terms.

Bradford Woods typically buys 250 tons of rock salt per winter, Ms. Moretti said.

Ms. Moretti said she'll order more anti-skid material this year and hope for a mild winter.

"It's going to be a give and take this year," she said. "But you have to keep the roads open."

In Etna, which has an annual budget of about $3 million, the cost of salt will surpass the borough's total Social Security contributions for its 25 full- and part-time employees and 20 seasonal workers.

The borough will spend about $56,000 on salt under the new contract, said Manager Mary Ellen Ramage. That's about $4,000 less than the borough fire department's budget for the entire year.

There is little to no wiggle room in the borough's budget to transfer funds from one account to another, so Etna will likely use salt sparingly this winter, she said.

"We will just have to be as conservative as we can on the flat streets while making sure our people are safe," Ms. Ramage said

John Sullivan, manager of Ohio Township, said he has never in his 22 years in government seen a commodity increase as drastically as road salt has this year.

"Our first reaction was this has to be rebid," he said. "It was beyond shock."

The township's salt estimate this year is 1,000 tons, so it had to place an order for 900 tons at a cost of about $93,600. The same amount of salt last year would have cost $36,500.

The township has asked for a meeting with state Department of Transportation officials to talk about the 10 state roads Ohio Township gets paid to treat each winter.

A few options include asking for more money to treat those roads or stop treating them entirely.

"We're contemplating that as a decision we may have to make," Mr. Sullivan said.

Mr. Gorski, head of the South Hills Area COG which represents 16 South Hills communities, said a contract awarded last year with supplier Cargill Salt has spared his COG's municipalities from the road salt price increase -- for now.

"It's almost obscene compared to what these other communities are seeing," Mr. Gorski said of the $45.08 per ton salt price SHACOG members will pay this year.

That number is up only 5 percent from the price they paid last year, thanks to the contract with Cargill, he said. That contract, which has a four-year option, doesn't lock the supplier into that price next year, however. So while South Hills COG members are breathing a sigh of collective relief now, they may later find themselves in a similar position as their neighbors to the north.

"I've warned my municipalities and the board that this is something they have to plan for in the future," he said.

Mr. Gorski said the impact of the skyrocketing rock salt prices can't be ignored.

"The impact is going to be felt on budgets, deferred maintenance and maybe even tax increases," he said.

"In general, people in Western Pennsylvania are used to seeing black asphalt when it snows. I think with these costs, municipalities are going to have to start prioritizing, and there has to be some understanding by the public.

"The days of seeing rock salt at $40 a ton are probably in the past."