Newark, Licking County seek part of salt settlement

COLUMBUS – Local governments have one more month to apply for a piece of an $11.5 million settlement between the Ohio Attorney General and Morton Salt and Cargill.

This settlement comes out of a 2012 antitrust lawsuit against Morton Salt Inc. and Cargill, companies that were accused of dividing up Ohio’s road salt market and forcing public purchasers to pay more than they should have for the product.

Licking County Engineer William Lozier said the county is applying to get some of the settlement money, but he is not hopeful the county will get very much, especially if the settlement ends up being spread out across all 88 counties and the countless local government entities of Ohio.

“I just can’t imagine how far $11.5 million will go,” Lozier said. “I’m not expecting we’ll get anything that significant.”

According to a release from Attorney General Mike DeWine, local governments that bought road salt from Morton Salt or Cargill between 2008 and 2011 are eligible to apply for a share of the settlement.

“We worked hard to ensure that this settlement would benefit local governments and the people they serve,” DeWine said in the release. “We want to get this money into the hands of local governments as soon as we can, and we want to make sure that each community gets its fair share of available funds.”

The City of Newark will also be applying for a piece of the settlement, according to the department of public service. The city spent $486,185.42 on 8,146.75 tons of salt from Cargill between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2011.

The city applied for a piece of the settlement Thursday.

Settlement checks sent out to governments that apply will be proportional to how much that group spent on salt during the three-year period.

Licking County spent roughly $650,000 on road salt from Cargill every year between 2008 and 2011, Lozier said. The county buys 4,000 tons of salt per year to de-ice the roads.

One project Lozier said the county would like to take up is asphalt paving more roads, but that costs $65,000 per mile. He doesn’t anticipate the county receiving enough from the settlement to be able to make much of a dent in that.

“We will put (money) to good use if we get some,” Lozier said.

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