With snow on the way, the city of Warren just found out several thousand tons of salt used to keep roadways safe and driveable can't be accounted for.

About $178,000 worth of rock salt is unaccounted for. That's 3,647 tons, which is 30 percent of the city's salt stash.

The city is trying to figure out if the salt was stolen.

On Thursday night, an auditor's report presented to Mayor Jim Fouts and City Council recommended controls be put in place to stop this from happening again.

While the city hasn't announced how the salt went missing, the internal audit calls it "misappropriation of the inventory."

Control measures discussed Thursday include limiting employee access and installing new locks.

The city comptroller's staff plans to spot-check the inventories during the winter season and deliveries now will be spot-checked for accuracy.

Mayor Fouts did not respond to Local 4's request for comment on the missing salt.