From Maine, to Iowa and Wisconsin, the unusually snowy winter means dozens of communities face dwindling salt supplies and blown snow removal budgets.

These cities — many already cash-strapped — are trying to find ways to buy more supplies, or make do with what they have left by mixing salt with sand or selectively salting high-traffic intersections.

The country spends billions a year to clear roads during the winter, said Dick Hanneman, president of the Salt Institute, the trade association of salt producers. Snow removal — he calls it "snow fighting" — is the largest single expenditure in communities' public works budgets, said Hanneman, who is also a member of the winter maintenance committee for the Transportation Research Board, an arm of the National Academies of Science.

It's above building roads and maintaining bridges, which are often supplemented by federal and state dollars.

It's not even about how much snow falls, although that's been a big deal this year. It's more about how often, because of a desire to put down salt no matter how much snow is falling, he said.

Communities typically buy thousands of tons of salt well ahead of winter, when salt is less expensive and easier to transport. In 2006, the nation spent some $307.8 million on about 12 million tons of highway salt, according to the latest numbers available by the Salt Institute.