I can speak on this from personal experience.
I managed a public works department, with an annual maintenance budget of around $5M-6M. About $3M of that went into personnel (~20 people) and another $1.5M went into paving. That doesn’t take into account vehicles, equipment, signals, consultants, signs, etc. that were needed on a regular basis.
Despite that, we had 300-500 tons of salt, a brine maker, 5 plows to put on trucks, and about 7-8 trucks total that could treat roads.
Now tell me this. Why would I invest any more money into something that only affects the public 5 days a year, when I have to worry about keeping everything else up the other 300 days? Only a fool would make that investment. Now you know the decision-making of every city, county, and state road agency.
Those northern transplants can go back if it hurts their feelings so much. I think our fiscal responsibility is just fine.