INDIANAPOLIS — Residential streets all across Marion County are slick and covered in snow.
People are frustrated and asking questions about why the city didn't send snow plows, despite receiving seven inches.
"People need to be careful," said Jay Pranger. "They are slipping and sliding and they don't pay attention. It's just bad. Really bad." Pranger lives on the west side of the city.
"Solid sheet of ice. They are not safe for the buses to be on. Or for our kids, the ones that walk to school they didn't even do a two hour delay this morning," said Kari Heard, a west side resident. "All the side streets are pretty dangerous."
RTV6 asked the Department of Public Works what it takes to get contractors out to plow residential streets, like the ones you see above. DPW says they only have the budget to call those contractors out one time a year.
"It costs a half a million every time we call out," said DPW director, Dan Parker.
When the city receives six inches or more of snow, DPW activates contractors to plow residential areas, but they do not salt the roads.
However, Parker tells RTV6's Paris Lewbel, the six inches is subjective. There are several different factors that go into calling out those contractors.
"It is not someone just sitting around saying, 'hey we got six inches let's go spend money.' It's how much do we get on the pavement, what type of snow it is and what kind of weather is coming in after the fact," said Parker.
DPW takes measurements at four different locations across Marion County to determine the amount of snowfall.
Parker says this weekend's snow measured 7.2 at the airport, but the actual snow measurement on the pavement was under 6 inches.
DPW says in order to think about budgeting for regular residential snow removal, it would need $8 million for a capital investment.
That money would go to buying more equipment, like trucks and plows. That would not include staff or more road salt.
Currently, DPW says there are no available funds for this type of investment.
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