UNC Grounds Services struggles to maintain campus amid budget cuts

While many students can be found enjoying the warmth of the spring season all across campus, Kittie Allen is working harder to tend to UNC’s lawns and gardens.

An agricultural specialist and crew leader for Grounds Services, Allen is one of many University gardeners feeling the pressure to keep the campus looking beautiful despite staff and resource shortages as a result of budget cuts.

“I’ve got areas that I just don’t attend to anymore as much as I should,” Allen said.

“I am supposed to have a crew of six right now, and I have three.”

Grounds Services, a division of Facilities Services that oversees landscaping and gardening on campus, is one of many departments hit hard by budget cuts, with a $159,000 cut this fiscal year alone.

Grounds Services has taken various steps to save money such as reducing the amount of fertilizers and weed killers it uses, the division’s director Bridget Baucom said.

“We’re not able to provide as much fertilizer and weed control as we have in the past, so we’re having to basically target areas where we can get the most bang for the buck,” Baucom said.

Allen said while not as many colorful seasonal flowers can be planted as a result of the cuts, the landscaping labor force has suffered the most.

About 15 percent of the grounds staff was laid off this year, leaving remaining workers to pick up additional work.

“It’s very challenging to do more with less,” Baucom said.

“Since we’ve lost those positions, we don’t have as much manpower to get the same amount of work done, so it’s a bigger challenge, and it’s frustrating,” she said.

Whether or not Grounds Services will see more cuts remains unknown until the state legislature convenes to decide the upcoming fiscal year’s budget, said Carolyn Elfland, associate vice chancellor for campus services.

UNC’s natural beauty is an important factor in attracting prospective students, said Julie Tucker, assistant director of admissions.

“We send an email survey for all the visitors that come for our daily tour asking them how their visit was,” Tucker said.

Several members of Grounds Services said they are proud of what they have been able to accomplish despite budgetary constraints.

Grounds Services won a national honor award for its excellence in maintaining a high quality appearance of the University’s landscape in 2011, Baucom said.

“We have great pride in the University and we want to look amazing,” she said.

“It’s just harder to get things done.”

Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com.