WESTBROOK – The costs of dealing with cold and snow this winter are adding up for communities.

Recent storms and frigid temperatures have kept snowplowing crews on the go and have strained local fuel oil funds.

In Westbrook, Tom Eldridge, director of Public Services, is keeping an eye on his budget and the number of winter storms. Eldridge is hoping for a break in the weather, but instead, he’s watching for a possible storm predicted to hit Wednesday night into Thursday.

James Brown of the National Weather Service office in Gray said early Wednesday that 26.6 inches of snow had fallen so far this month at Portland International Jetport. The monthly snow record in the Portland area, he said, was 40.1 inches in 1882. Brown also said temperatures the past few days are well below normal, although not record setting.

With the new storm, the weather service is predicting a possible accumulation of another 3-6 inches of snow.

“We’re doing OK so far,” Eldridge said Wednesday about keeping up with the workload on the street.

He said his crew has been operating as much as possible during daylight hours to conserve overtime pay as well as ease the workload on his crew.

“We’re trying to pace our budget and the crew.” Eldridge said, adding that the department has already expended the amount usually spent by mid-February.

But if the pattern of multiple storms each week continues, “we’d be looking for resources,” Eldridge said.

Eldridge said his department has used less that one half the salt it had been budgeted, an amount that is “a little above average.”

Those icy temperatures coupled with rising prices of home heating fuel are driving up the number of requests for fuel assistance.

“I know we’ve had a big increase in January,” Gorham Town Clerk Christina Silberman, who also handles the town’s general assistance program, said Wednesday. “We’ve seen more and more people.”

In an online posting, the Maine Governor’s Office of Energy Independence and Security reported on Jan. 24 that the current statewide average cash price for No. 2 heating oil was $3.23 per gallon, a 5-cent increase from last week. The average price on Dec. 20 was $2.98, according to the office.

“Frigid temperatures in the northeastern United States increased demand for heating fuels and helped drive up the prices,” said John Kerry, director of the Office of Energy Independence and Security. “Even though U.S. crude oil inventories rose last week, the continued cold snap and weather forecasts for more snow this week could keep prices higher than normal.”

Silberman said Gorham refers requests for fuel assistance to Peoples Regional Opportunity Program (PROP) in Portland but the town does accept applications to provide immediate help with fuel.

Gorham had budgeted $62,000 this year for general assistance, which includes funds for fuel. Silberman said as of Dec. 31, $48,344.14 had already been expended and she said “definitely no doubt” that the budget would be exceeded.

The arctic air has also impacted public works crews bracing for more snow. Monday, the Westbrook crew encountered a few problems with equipment starting up as bitter cold hampered operations.

Eldridge has a crew of 21 working to plow 90 miles of roads and 25 miles of sidewalks in Westbrook besides parking lots. Eldridge said a challenge at times is to ensure that his crew gets rest.

Gorham Public Works has a crew of 18 with an additional four or five part-time employees. Gorham plows about 150 miles of roads and 8.5 miles of sidewalks.

But, the wintry blast hasn’t bested crews. Westbrook Public Services Wednesday continued loading and trucking away snow.

“We’re giving it a good run,” said Dan Matusko, who manned a Westbrook Public Services dump truck hauling snow from Mechanic Street in the city’s downtown.