January's winter storm Jonas broke snowfall records and banks across central and eastern Pennsylvania, leaving Gov. Tom Wolf to ask the federal government for assistance for31 counties, including Schuylkill County.

The assistance would help take the edge off snow cleanup costs for boroughs and townships."In many places, it wiped out an entire year's budget for snow response and removal, and winter isn't over yet," Wolf said.According to Wolf, state agencies have spent more than $55 million in response to the storm. In order to qualify for federal public assistance, counties must meet the following criteria: record or near-record snowfall event must occur within the county, costs to the county and municipalities for snow removal operations during a continuous 48-hour period and any other costs for emergency protective measures must exceed the county per capita threshold of $3.56 million; total costs of all counties meeting both criteria must exceed the state threshold of $17.9 million.If the governor's request is approved, applicants can be reimbursed up to 75 percent of the money spent on eligible expenses such as overtime, equipment rentals, materials, search and rescue operations, and opening and operating shelters.Overtime was a big expense across the county with each municipality working near round-the-clock hours to clear streets and walkways.According to William Schwab, East Penn Township Council chairman, the small road crew accrued over 31 hours of overtime."We have no part-time workers right now," he said. Schwab suggested the township hire seasonal help for the crew.Summit Hill also faced long work hours during the blizzard."We had our two full-time employees as well as three part-time employees out during the storm. About 75 percent of it was overtime," said Kira Steber, borough secretary and treasurer. "My guys worked Friday evening, most of the day Saturday, most of the day Sunday and spent Monday and Tuesday cleaning up, removing large piles of snow, opening up streets and cleaning storm drains."The cost for overtime hours, $3,005, was double the regular pay hours of $1,400.28.Lehighton Borough Manager Nicole Beckett said the borough's Public Works crew started Jan. 23 through Feb. 1 on snow plowing and removal."The storm had resulted in about 180 overtime hours for the crew of seven maintenance operators. The mechanic had also been called out during the storm to make truck repairs," she said."Snow removal had consumed the entire week of Jan. 25," Beckett said. The storm cost the borough about $5,000 in overtime, and $8,000 in regular time. Beckett said the borough used outside contractors to haul snow for about $2,800."The borough had received much-appreciated assistance from the Lehighton Water Authority," Beckett said.Jim Thorpe had nine employees working eight- to 12-hour shifts, spending $6,095 in overtime, according to borough Secretary Louise McClafferty. Coaldale secretary Melissa Malatak said estimated hours spent on storm cleanup came in at 187."The 11-person crew was composed of workers from the street and water department. After the storm, eight of those hours were regular work shifts, so the borough paid 11 workers four hours of overtime each day," said Tamaqua Borough manager Kevin Steigerwalt. "During the storm and beyond, the crews worked two 12-hour shifts daily."Along with overtime, salt, equipment and fuel took a bite out of each municipality's budget.Steigerwalt estimated $9,678 in equipment costs, $4,275 for 300 tons of anti-skid material, $11,298 for 150 tons of road salt, and $83 for 500 pounds of ice melt.Jim Thorpe racked up similar numbers with a combined cost of $7,122 for anti-skid and ice melt supplies.Steber said Summit Hill distributed 40 tons of salt and 250 gallons of diesel for the equipment."So between hours and salt, we spent a total of $7,238.70 for the storm," she said.Coaldale's cost for 50 tons of salt and 50 tons of anti-skid combined were $673.36. Fuel used for more than 29 hours with a 3-ton dump truck, 19 hours with a 9-ton dump truck, and 48 hours' use of a backhoe added up to $327.Even with the high amounts spent, Carbon did not make the list. However, Schuylkill was among the counties submitted by Wolf for assistance.