DaytonDailyNews.com

WASHINGTON — When the snow began falling last week in the Miami Valley, Chris Moore used a chess-player's sense of strategy to keep Springfield's roads from becoming too slippery.

He used a dab here and a dab there. "Right now, we're being very frugal with our salt," he said.

Like many operations superintendents around the state, Moore has little choice. A handful of Ohio cities lack salt contracts at all, and those that have them are paying anywhere from 200 to 300 times as much for rock salt.

It's gotten so bad the Ohio Department of Transportation has for the first time started selling off some of its stockpile in hopes of helping cities, townships and counties that are going without.

Scott Varner of the Ohio Department of Transportation said the state is rationing off its supply and selling 100,000 tons to communities such as Springfield, which is currently trying to iron out details to buy and transport ODOT's salt to its own garages. Ansonia, Sidney and Preble County are also relying on ODOT'S stockpile, Varner said.

After last week's storm, Springfield has about 1,400 tons in storage — mostly left over from last year. During a standard winter it uses 4,000. The city hopes to get about 2,000 tons from ODOT.

"It's very scary," Moore said. "It gives you a little empty feeling inside when you look at the salt barn."