EAST LIVERPOOL – East Liverpool will be searching for other options for winter salt.

Safety Service Director Bill Jones informed council members during Monday’s meeting the city received notice of a significant price increase for road salt for the 2026-2027 winter season.

Jones told council members that last year’s price under the State of Ohio Salt Purchasing Contract for the 2025-2026 season was $58 per ton. This year there has been a 262% increase, with this year’s price at $151.85 per ton.

The contract East Liverpool has with the state is for 2,000 tons, which would cost the city $303,700. The city is obligated to purchase 85% of the salt for which it contracted, which would be 1,530 tons at a cost of $232,330.50. Only $150,000 was budgeted for the salt purchase, which the amount of salt and budgeted amount were based off what the city used last year. This leaves the city short $82,330.50 of meeting the contracted purchase.

City Auditor Marilyn Bosco said she can’t reduce the amount to the capital improvement fund to come up with the money, like she did when the city ran this issue previously due to the Chris Green settlement.

Jones said he believes the reason for the price increase is based on an email from Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) which notified the municipalities in 18 Ohio counties that when ODOT reviewed bid submissions for this year’s salt they did not receive bids for the counties of Seneca, Ashland, Richland, Coshocton, Guernsey, Know, Muskingum, Morrow, Shelby Monroe, Noble Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson and Tuscarawas.

ODOT responded to the affected municipalities after receiving inquiries from several of them asking if they had done or submitted something wrong, that wasn’t the case; everything that was needed was done in their original request and salt vendors submitting bid proposals did not provide a bid/price for those counties and they do not need to do anything as ODOT has put out a new invitation to bid to salt providers.

ODOT sent an email to the affected municipalities on July 6 to let them know the results of the second bid which only included six of the 18 counties: Monroe, Noble, Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana and Jefferson.

The email gave the municipalities the option to remain on the salt contract at the prices received or the option to opt out of the contract, which Jones said would leave them buying salt from the free market and could possibly cost the city more money. He said that either way at this point it is a gamble and that he has not heard back from any of the salt providers from which he has requested prices.

Council Member Brian Kerr noted the city could gamble with finances but not with resident safety.

Jones said the city currently has 900 tons of salt on hand, which is half of the purchase amount from last year and would be enough to do the roads through probably three winter storms.

Jones mentioned that the city was awarded the $75,000 grant for the purchase and implementation of brine-making and distribution equipment and that using the liquid brine prior to a storm “is expected to reduce overall salt consumption, improve winter road treatment effectiveness and help offset some of the financial impacts associated with the substantial increase in road salt cost.”

Based on the uncertainty of the open market which has potential for even higher salt prices than the state contract, Jones asked council members to evaluate whether remaining in the contract would provide the most cost-effective and reliable source for road salt and to consider the continued implementation of the brine program as a strategy to reduce salt usage and costs in the future.

Council members agreed to give Jones the authority to continue researching salt prices outside the contract and make the determination on the best route to proceed with.

Jones has until the end of the day on July 12 to notify ODOT if the city decides to opt out of the contract.