OBSERVER file photo A municipal plow clears a road during a recent storm.

The city of Dunkirk is experiencing the same road salt shortage as many other local municipalities.

“We only have a little bit of salt left. We’re getting rationed on salt,” said Randy Woodbury, city Department of Public Works head, at a Common Council Finance Committee meeting Tuesday.

Woodbury said he is reluctant in most cases to use a salt-sand mixture that saves salt, because the resulting sandy slush tends to clog up city drains. Chautauqua County DPW has been using the sand-salt mixture on county-administered roads, he said.

The salt shortage is due to a relatively snowy winter and supply chain issues. The city’s supplier “is not able to get their salt from Buffalo, for whatever reason,” said DPW deputy director Mike Przybycien. “So they’ve been shipping it in from Ohio.”

Przybycien said the city is down to $21,000 this year in its salt budget — and about half of that is spoken for, used to pay for 200 tons of salt that is coming soon.

He said Dunkirk is “getting main roads and intersections at this point” when it comes to spreading salt.