Approximately $1.5 million is spent to mow grass in Sampson and Duplin counties each year. But, when the budget for the N.C. Department of Transportation — the state agency responsible for roadside mowing — is drastically cut, there are places where the grass is not.

During the Sampson County Board of Commissioners meeting earlier this month, Commissioner Jefferson Strickland said that many state-maintained lots tended to by DOT personnel are getting infrequent attention. He specifically mentioned the DOT’s road maintenance program, which he said “is getting away from us.”

Other commissioners voiced similar concerns, noting that the tall vegetation is a problem around bridges and intersections across the county.

Lin Reynolds, DOT interim engineer, said the growing grass is a sign of tough budgetary times. While that looks to change with a transition into a new budget year, and a comprehensive mowing plan already scheduled for the coming weeks, the budget cuts DOT experienced in the last fiscal year left the agency little options.

“It really started last November, when budget numbers started showing in Raleigh,” said Reynolds. “As they receive revenues, they try to project how much we can spend. They gave us a reasonable budget, but revenues weren’t coming in as expected. It was all about the budget.”

The DOT’s revenue has always come from three supporting variables — gas tax, automobile sales and smaller motorist expenses such as tag renewals and driver’s license fees. When money is not being spent toward them amid an economic recession, DOT’s cashflow is affected. DOT division engineer Allen Pope pondered the problem earlier this year when speaking on long-term projects that have been delayed or set aside all together.

“The problem is cash,” Pope said.

Cash, indeed.

With 50 percent of the budget already spent locally by the time November rolled around, the budget was slashed another 38 percent, all “at one time,” Reynolds noted.

“We had 12 percent of our yearly budget to make it six months,” Reynolds remarked. “I don’t think people realize how much that hurt us, pulling 38 percent of our budget. It’s a pretty big cut in service. This is just cold, hard facts. It was a bad situation.”

A large number of regular programs went by the wayside, as the agency was left with little more than a tenth of its budget to get through half a budget cycle. Normal practices such as installing driveway pipes — “that’s a large part of what we do,” Reynolds attested — were cut out almost completely. It was just not feasible.

“That’s a service we had to stop doing because of the budget,” Reynolds said. “It now falls on the homeowner.”

DOT vehicles and equipment was parked for weeks and months at a time, as employees put down their truck keys for bush axes, and went to work trimming at grass manually, Reynolds said.

“They were unique, difficult circumstances,” he said. “We had to park a lot of our vehicles for six months. We had to prioritize our work to make the roads as safe as we possibly could. Our goal is to keep roads safe, and we will.”

That includes cutting the grass alongside the roadway, a process which had to be decreased from six mowing cycles a year to four. It went down to three in Duplin.

“Six is ideal, but you can get by with five,” Reynolds said. “We’re going to do a contract for five next year.”

The mowing calendar, unlike the fiscal year budget, extends more like a calendar year, from around April to December. A large portion of that mowing year was adversely affected by the 2008-09 budget and the subsequently delayed adoption of the 2009-10 budget.

During the county board’s meeting this month, board chairman Jarvis McLamb specifically noted an intersection at Wrench Road and Gainey Road, where grass has grown so high that it is tough to see around it. He and others said the overgrown vegetation poses a risk to motorists. Reynolds agrees.

“When the grass gets tall, people can’t see out of their driveways and can’t see at intersections,” said Reynolds. “It’s dangerous. It has been (a problem) this summer because the grass got pretty tall in the county.”

Grass cutting was part of the prioritizing that came with a strained budget, Reynolds pointed out. That was the operational budget up until “a few weeks ago,” he said. While stating that the new budget “was quite a bit better,” Reynolds said the local DOT allotment was essentially the same, however much of the money has already been dedicated to various projects — and numerous mowing programs.

“In the next six weeks, we should see a lot of that overgrowth get better,” Reynolds reassured. “It’s going to be fast and furious in the next six weeks. We’re going to see some serious improvements. They should see a huge difference.”

About six weeks from now, the mowing will begin. It will take several months for all mowing to be completed.

“We’ll have five tractors mowing with DOT people on them, six tractors on contract and three long-arm mowers to get overgrowth behind the ditches, everything’s on go,” Reynolds said. “Some of the conditions of the roads, like around guardrails and bridges, is going to be contracted out this winter. It looks bad, but it’s not a hazard.

“In the next couple weeks, all the grass will be caught up on the shoulder of roads,” he continued. “Then, we’ll concentrate behind the ditches.”

Some might balk at the prospect of mowing presenting such a problem, but, as Reynolds pointed out, not anyone with a John Deere can settle along the side of the road for state money.

There is specialized equipment and the overhead costs are so high to get started, there are not as many options when attempting to contract out mowers, Reynolds said. Along with budget tightening, there came problems with a few contracted mowers.

“It caused a hiccup in both counties,” he said.

Mowing is done on a three-year contract, at an annual estimated cost of $400,000 each for Sampson and Duplin. It costs another $700,000 a year to “get behind the ditches” and cut the thicker overgrowth further off the road. That is a once-annual cost that includes both Sampson and Duplin counties.

“That is $1.5 million, that is what we spend a year to cut the grass in Sampson and Duplin,” Reynolds said, almost in disbelief. “Budget or no budget, you got to cut the grass. You can’t fudge on that.”

And it will get cut.

“Everything will be back to normal by next summer,” stated Reynolds, “as long as we get the revenues we’re projected.”

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.