With the harsh winter weather continuing to dump blankets of snow on the area, State College snow-removal workers are faced with 60-hour work weeks, broken-down vehicles and a salt shortage that has put a stranglehold on cleanup efforts across the Northeast.

Only six weeks into 1994, State College has already spent 80 percent of the snow-removal funds budgeted for this year. With spring still a month-and-a-half away, snow-removal funds are dwindling.

"It looks bleak in terms of financial arrangements," said Mark Whitfield, State College operations manager.

State College Borough Manager Peter Marshall said the increased snowfall has caused cleanup costs to surpass the figure from last year. Snow removal has cost the borough about $78,000 so far this year -- compared with $57,000 at this time last year, Marshall said. He described the present situation as "terrible."

"It's really stretching our snow budget," he said.

Although the frequent snowstorms have strained the budget, Marshall said the snow problem still must be dealt with. If snow-removal funds are exhausted, the borough will use reserve funds to continue its snow cleanup, he said.

Because of the unusually large amounts of snowfall, road salt has become a scarce commodity for cleanup efforts across the Northeast. State College is no exception.

"We've been having a lot of trouble getting salt," Whitfield said.

The borough has 200 tons of salt in stock, but normally likes to have four times that amount in reserve.

Snow removal is a three-part process that takes almost three days to complete. Street plowing is the first priority, followed by the clearing of alleys and removing snow from parking areas.

Marshall said the problem is that the storms have been hitting the area almost every three days. Borough road crews have been working overtime because as soon as they finish removing snow after a storm, another one is dropping white flakes on the area once again.

"They've been worked more than they want to be worked," Marshall said.

Employees working overtime are paid time and a half, which accounts for the increased costs this year, he said.

Large snowfalls literally have a snowball effect on the whole process of removal, Whitfield said. Employee fatigue and the breakdown of snow-removal equipment combines to make the process more difficult, he said.

Whitfield said the cost of equipment maintenance has skyrocketed this year. Trucks have experienced all kinds of breakdowns --everything from salt spreaders clogging up to plows breaking.

"The equipment has been pressed to the limit," Whitfield said.

Whitfield said borough residents can help ease the snow-removal problems by removing their parked cars from the street and by not shoveling snow into the streets.