Public works director Mark Neri told the Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners on June 4 that the county will continue a single roads maintenance district approach and proposed a fiscal-year 2026 forecast of roughly $1.7 million for winter maintenance, pothole repair and rural-road work.

Why it matters: Road maintenance, winter snow response, and pothole repair affect everyday travel, school bus routes and local business access; the presentation explained operational priorities, staffing and the unit costs of salt, deicer and durable patching.

Neri said crews prioritize primary routes to ensure traffic and school buses can run during storms, then secondary and tertiary routes as conditions allow. He reported the 2024–25 season used about 155 tons of salt and 786 tons of liquid deicer, with total winter-related costs down after a mild winter. Since Jan. 1 crews completed 2,086 pothole repairs and from July 1 through May 6 they completed 5,003 repairs. Neri said durable (Durapatch) repairs allow year-round pothole work; the county operates two Durapatcher machines.

The department chipped and seal-coated additional miles this year to extend pavement life, and Neri listed a summer chip-seal schedule. The proposed FY26 work plan forecasts $300,000 in labor and $300,000 in equipment for winter maintenance; total forecasted costs for FY26 were presented as $1,700,000.

Commissioners asked operational questions: how many trucks deploy on heavy snow days (Neri said five large plow trucks plus smaller units and three graders), whether sweepers and flushing use potable water (chief executive and staff clarified the county uses treated effluent from Metro Sewer for flushing), and how residents learn sweep schedules (Neri said uptown schedules are posted; he will confirm neighborhood notification practices). Commissioner Anderson urged residents to use the online “report a pothole” web feature, which logs and maps requests for crews.

Ending: The council received the presentation and commissioners asked staff to circulate the slide deck to commissioners by email and to follow up on notice practices for neighborhood sweeping.