Cities say outsourcing trims lawn costs

Courtesy: http://www.commercialappeal.com/

Despite having a city-operated Parks Department, Southaven pays Green King Spray Services $100,000 a year to keep the grounds at City Hall and some other city properties looking tidy.

In neighboring Horn Lake, the city pays Affinity Lawnscapes more than $140,000 a year to maintain City Hall and the Latimer Lakes Park Complex.

While some may see such fees as a duplication of services in tough economic times, city officials defend the practice of contracting such work because they say it actually saves money.

In fact, of DeSoto County's five incorporated municipalities, a check with officials revealed that a majority of them let private firms perform much of the seasonal work because, officials say, it's cheaper than hiring extra city crews for seasonal tasks.

Like Southaven and Horn Lake, Olive Branch follows the practice. Hernando used to contract with a lawn service for some work but no longer does so, and Walls, with fewer than 1,000 residents, performs all of its own maintenance.

In most of the larger cities, though, officials said outsourcing just makes more sense.

"We contract that work out because we would have to add a lot of people and equipment during the summer months to our regular Public Works crews if we did not," said Spencer "Penny" Shields, Public Works director in Horn Lake.

The city has a three-year contract with Affinity Lawnscapes, at $11,900 per month ($142,800 a year), for grass cutting, tree trimming, mulching, flower bed preparation, debris removal, weed control and fertilization of Latimer Lakes Park Complex and City Hall. The exception to the contract is the ball fields at Latimer, which are maintained by Parks Department crews.

Affinity is required to mow everything as often as is needed during the summer growing season. The contract with Affinity was signed this year.

Olive Branch Mayor Sam Rikard said his city spends about $45,000 annually to cut grass and perform landscaping functions.

He said the services are provided by four vendors.

"Since these are considered services, we do not bid, but we do take quotes for those services. We will be seeking quotes for those services again in September or October of this year," Rikard said.

He said the city outsources some of its grounds work despite having a Parks Department of 12 groundskeepers and two supervisors.

The city employees are responsible for cutting all the grass in City Park, the soccer complex and other smaller parks such as Magnolia, Southcrest and Ivy Trails.

They also prepare every ball field, and they cut grass at three US 78 intersections and the right-of-way along Goodman Road near Eastover subdivision.

Rikard said without getting outside help, the city would have to have more park employees on payroll all year long to perform the services that are only necessary seasonally.

In Southaven, the county's largest city, city officials hired Southaven-based Green King Spray Services for weed control, lawn and grounds maintenance at its City Hall complex on Northwest Drive, Jim Saucier Park, the Police Department and the library.

The city pays the company $100,000 per year for the work. Invoices show that from 2007 to this year, the city paid the company $307,114.73 for work.

The work done by Green King is considered a professional service and does not have to be bid on by vendors, Mayor Greg Davis said.

"Vendor selections come through purchasing and department heads in accordance with state law," Davis said.

He said the city's parks employees maintain all the city parks, including the massive Snowden Grove complex, and cut grass at abandoned or condemned property in the city.

"To do the weed control with spraying the chemicals, a state license is required to do this work and our parks employees do not have certification," Davis said.

Davis said the city also outsources grass cutting of the medians and ramps along Interstate 55 to Reel Neet Lawn Service because the Mississippi Department of Transportation only cuts the grass twice a year. Reel Neet, a Southaven company, receives $100,000 per year.

"Again, it is cheaper to do it this way than in-house," Davis said. "In fact, we used to do the all the lawn maintenance work in-house, but the maintenance of the equipment and personnel costs skyrocketed."

Hernando Mayor Chip Johnson said his city, the county seat, used to subcontract with a lawn service for mowing on- and off-ramps along Interstate 55, the city parks and the cemetery. However, that work is now handled by the Hernando Parks Department.

In Walls, the smallest of the county's incorporated municipalities, Mayor Gene Alday and other town officials pitch in and do all the grass cutting, roadside trash pickup and landscaping at Town Hall and the town's one park.

Last year, the town of 870 residents bought a $23,000 tractor, and Alday can be found on it on any given day, cutting grass in the town.

Dr. John O'Looney, senior public service associate at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, said outsourcing is not uncommon for local governments.

"We see it a lot when new elected officials come in and want to explore it, thinking that the private sector can do it better," O'Looney said.

O'Looney said in 2007 his office conducted a feasibility study on outsourcing for Dawson County, GA, and found that it is a complex issue that does not have a "one-size-fits-all" answer.

"Contracting for services is and will continue to be a major decision task facing public managers," the study stated. "According to the US Government Accountability Office, contracting is the most utilized alternative to direct service provision.

"However, there does not appear to be any single answer to the question of whether to contract out services."

He said individual governments have to decide what is best for their needs.