By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Winter's not over yet but the Department of Sanitation is already nearly $40 million over its snow-removal budget as a result of several huge snowstorms, the New York Daily News reported.
So far, the department has spent $75.7 million to clean up after the storms — the budget was $38.9 million, the News reported.
"Some years you get dumped on, and this year the Northeast got dumped on," Vito Turso, a spokesman with the department, told the News.
Officials base the snow-removal budget on previous years spending, the paper reported.
Overtime payment for department employees came to $32.8 million, rock salt purchases for roads totaled $20 million and rentals of snow plows, day laborers and truck parts came to a combined sum of $16.4 million, the paper reported.
Federal authorities began an investigation into claims that sanitation workers deliberately slowed down clean-up efforts after the December blizzard as retaliation for department budget cuts in January.
