MOUNT VERNON — With 31 snow and ice events in Mount Vernon during the course of the 2009-10 season, winter can be very hard on residents, workers and the city.

Removing the snow and ice from city streets cost the city nearly $200,000, according to figures from city street department superintendent Dave Carpenter. The city racked up 3,870 regular hours for its workers plowing and in other support work, as well as more than 900 overtime hours.

Salt was the other big expense, as the city used 1,271 tons of salt at a cost of $73,184. That figure could have been a lot higher, but the city started using a 50-50 mix of salt and No. 9 gravel a few years ago to melt the ice and snow from the streets. While the cost of sweeping the streets to clean up the gravel is not figured in the total, the cost of the gravel is much less than salt (approximately $3 per ton compared to nearly $60 per ton for salt).

“We’ve been sweeping nearly every day for the last couple of months. It’s an inconvenience, a nuisance, but there’s no way that it makes up that difference in cost,” said Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis.