How about this. I'm going be Santa and end the year actually being nice to councils for once even though they're useless, take forever to pull their fingers out to do anything and are only interested in stitching you up over parking tickets.
But I will give ‘em one thing. There is no point in them stashing away more salt and grit than they need just so they can cover every bleeding street every three years whenever we get a few inches of snow for two days.