School board projects $50K savings in mowing
A school board decision to outsource the school system’s mowing operations will result in an actual savings of over $50,000 next year, school officials announced Thursday night.
With the low bid of $57,915, G&S Landscaping and Lawn Care of Rock Island was awarded a contract to mow the grounds of all county schools and the central office – a total of 155 acres – 33 times each between July 1 of this year through June 30 of next year.
According to school system human resources director Roy Pierce, the system has been looking at outsourcing its mowing for several months as a way to save money. This is the same reason, he added, which prompted the board to outsource its substitute teacher service to Kelly Services a few years ago and to consider outsourcing its custodial service last year.
But instead of outsourcing the custodial service, the board chose instead to reduce the number of custodians and the amount of time the remaining ones worked. One component of this plan was it moved each school’s mowing responsibilities from the custodians to the school system maintenance workers. It’s a move which, in turn, detracted from the maintenance department’s building maintenance duties.
This, in addition to a need of about $40,000 worth of new mowing equipment this year, were other additional reasons given concerning the need to seriously study outsourcing.
“We’re at a crossroads that has its beginnings when we cut the janitors and the current need to replace some mowers and trailers. This is going to save us some money and hopefully we will be able to continue that savings,” said school board Buildings and Grounds Committee chairman Larry Judkins.
But just in case the arrangement doesn’t work out, the board voted to not to sell its own mowing equipment for at least a year, lest the outsourcing not meet expectations.