Dry Winter Leaves Wyoming Snow Removal Crews With No Work Or Doing Other Jobs

Many local landscaping companies in Wyoming turn to snow removal as their main business during the winter. So far this winter, that revenue has been essentially nonexistent.

“We’ve had very little — very little — snow removal,” Dave Malony of Preferred Service in Cheyenne told Cowboy State daily. "I think we’ve had only two times where were we’re able to bill out for snow removal.”

Typically, snow removal is “easily 50% of what we do in the winter,” he said. “In a typical year, we’ve billed out 20-25 times for snow removal by now."

The situation is the same in Riverton, said Daniel Bartley, owner of Fremont Maintenance Co.

“We’ve gotten, like, two little skiffs of snow so far — and it was all melted by the next day,” he said.

Falling Back On Other Work

Bartley and Malony said they are thankful that their companies don’t specialize in snow removal only.

Both companies have continued to do property clean-up and building maintenance for individual homeowners, businesses and rental property management companies.

“About 20% to 30% of my business is snow removal,” Bartley said. “The other 70% to 80% is maintenance, mostly for property managers."

So, while he’s felt the dip in revenue from a lack of snow, it hasn’t been a death blow for his business.

Malony said Preferred Service hasn’t planned any layoffs because of slow snow business.

“We’ve been able to keep ourselves busy with rental unit maintenance and other projects,” he said.

Can’t Control The Weather

One terrible snow year is hardly enough to cause cutbacks, he added. But he’s counting on snow later this winter, and next winter as well.

“If it were to continue like this long-term, we’d have to make other plans,” Malony said, adding that this winter has been remarkably bad for snow work.

“I’ve been in the business for almost 20 years. I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “And last year wasn’t much better."

Bartley said he’s taking the dip in snow removal business in stride.

“It’s good for the ones who have to pay the bill” for snow removal, he wryly noted.

However, “The farmers ain’t getting what they need, and the land ain’t getting what it needs,” he added about the lack of precipitation that comes with the snow.

There’s no controlling the weather, he said: “What are you going to do about it?”

WYDOT Plows Also Idle

With little to no road plowing to do, Wyoming Department of Transportation crews have kept busy with other work.

“Our maintenance crews, snowplow drivers, work full-time year-round on highway maintenance tasks across the state,” WYDOT spokeswoman Jordan Young told Cowboy State Daily. "So while plowing isn't taking up quite as much time, they have plenty of other projects to work on."

That includes tasks such as filling potholes, repairing highway fences and fixing road signs blown over by extreme winds in parts of Wyoming.

So far, WYDOT is about $5 million under its typical winter snowplowing expenditures.

"As of today (Wednesday), we are under-running the five-year average for snow control by about $5 million,” Young said. "Of course, springtime in Wyoming often means at least one big snowstorm, so that can very well change.

“When the winter season is over, any unused snow control budget will be directed to other road maintenance needs."

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.