Thursday, September 30, 1999 Older Editions

Plowing to get pricier

By Taylor Armerding

Andover is still a month or two away from any serious snow, if normal weather patterns hold. But however much white stuff falls this winter, it is looking like it will take more green stuff to get rid of it.

A ruling by the state Attorney General's office means private snow removal contractors will have to pay drivers according to the "prevailing wage" set by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development's Division of Occupational Safety.

Those rates in Andover, depending on the piece of equipment, range from about $25 to $30 per hour, and have created enough unrest among local contractors to have prompted a meeting last night (Wednesday), after the Townsman went to press, between the contractors and the local legislative delegation of state Rep. Barry Finegold and state Sen. Sue Tucker.

Outgoing Public Works Director Robert McQuade says he wouldn't object to the ruling if it involved a state public works project. "But this is all town money," he says. "The state telling the town how to spend its money is what ticks me off."

The bottom line, he says, is that the town will either have a tougher time getting contractors to plow snow, or it will have to increase what it pays those contractors so they can maintain a profit margin similar to what they have in the past.

McQuade says he doesn't know exactly what local contractors pay their drivers, but it is clearly less than what the state is now mandating.

"We pay a certain rate for a vehicle and a driver. If the contractor gets the same rate, and has to jack up what he pays the driver, then there's a problem," he says.

Actually the ruling came at the beginning of this year, on Jan. 22, but the AG's office delayed enforcement until the next snow season. According to the ruling, contractors who don't comply with the ruling are "subject to criminal prosecution."

McQuade says there are as many as 30 local contractors who could be affected by the AG's ruling.

That's not all that will be affected, however. Tucker says the ruling could have serious implications for both the town and the state budgets, since the state reimburses municipalities for plowing of state roads.

Beyond that, she says she doesn't know how the AG will enforce the new ruling, since there are so many small contractors that are essentially family operations. "Owner/operators are exempt for themselves (from prevailing wage laws)," she says, "and they're not required to file the same kind of paperwork."

The ruling, she says, "is a perfect example of the unintended consequences of over-regulation. This is potentially a paperwork nightmare and a budget buster."

Tucker says her understanding is that the prevailing wage system, even for snowplow drivers, has been in place for some time, "but what's different is that they're talking about enforcement now.

"This is a case of a system that wasn't broken, and didn't need to be fixed. Nobody was unhappy with it, including the contractors, the drivers and the town," she says. "That's why this meeting is so important -- to see if we can do something."

Finegold, who also planned to attend the meeting, says he's not sure what can be done, since "the law is the law," and he doesn't believe the Legislature should try to make snow plow operators exempt.

"It gets tough when you start cutting and pasting laws," he says.

But he agrees with everybody else, that this is a major problem.

"I worry about (local officials) deciding not to plow when there's just a few inches of snow on the ground, because of the cost, and then you've got a public safety problem.

Steve Bilafer, a spokesman for the AG's office, declined to discuss the philosophical issues surrounding the prevailing wage decision. He said the Division of Occupational Safety (DOS), the primary authority on the application of the prevailing wage, "thought it should apply to all public contracts."

He added that since some communities comply with the prevailing wage regulations, "it's only fair that all do."

A DOS spokesman said that agency would have no comment.