It took five and a half months, but this:

Is now just this:

And now that the Boston snow farm has finally melted the Boston Public Works Department can look back on the toll last winter took on the city and begin to plan for next year.

The once 75-foot-tall snow pile is now just a pile of trash and debris. As the city finishes cleaning up the snow farm, the ultimate costs of the brutal winter can finally be added up.

“Fiscal year ’15 had a $18.5M budget,” said Mike Dennehy, the interim commissioner of the Boston Public Works Department. “I believe we spent, collectively, $40-45M this year.”

According to Dennehy, the PWD was able to save money because of the Harborside snow farm. By clearing out the roughly 270 tons of debris at $60/ton, the city did not have to waste additional resources cleaning it out of the harbor. In addition to removing the debris, the PWD replaced the fence that surrounded the four acre area that the Boston Redevelopment Authority allowed the department to use which was maxed out by the snow.

Next year the budget will be bumped up to $22.5 million for snow removal and the PWD is already making moves with an eye to the oncoming winter. The city purchased two high powered snow blowers and is encouraging its various contacts to obtain their own as well. The PWD and other agencies are teaming up to identify other parcels of land where they could potentially farm snow. Dennehy praised the city’s ability to move snow but sees potential improvement in removing the snow, especially in clearing crowded thoroughfares.

“There’s some open spaces in the city that we’re going to take a look at and possibly using the snow blowers to move some of the snow to those places, so we don’t have to trek it across the city to farm it,” said Dennehy. “The goal is the same: keep Boston open, safe, and moving while not throwing snow in the harbor.”