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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- Ottumwa city workers are hoping Mother Nature keeps her fingers off of the city's snow budget this year.

Ottumwa street crews are already starting to dig into the snow removal budget after flurries filled the skies all weekend.

KTVO crunched some numbers with City Finance Director Mike Heffernan to find out how much the city can spend this year.

According to Heffernan, the harsh winter last year cost the city close to $500,000, which was about twice more than what city leaders budgeted for.

This year the city has $235,000 to work with. That number is just a tad bit more than what the city usually budgets for snow removal each year.

Heffernan said they couldn't budget for more than what a typical year costs because that would mean the extra money would come out of other accounts like street maintenance and pothole repair.

He tells KTVO that sand left over from summer flooding will help keep costs down.

"That will be the sand that we'll use to mix in with the salt, and so that should help alleviate some of the budget concerns this year, because we won't have to purchase any sand for probably another couple of years," Heffernan said.

Heffernan says if Ottumwa does experience a couple more winters like last winter, then the city's finances could be put into a tough situation. This year, however, crews are hoping for the best.