Morgan County Commission Chairman Hopes to Cut $230K Cleaning Bill in Half

DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) – In Morgan County, the Chairman of the Commission believes he’s found a way to save the county at least $100,000 through cleaning costs.

The Morgan County Courthouse is a big building that comes with a big bill every year for Morgan County taxpayers.

“We pay right now, when you count the salaries and the benefits and everything, it’s about $230,000 a year is what we’re paying to have our building cleaned,” said Commission Chairman Ray Long.

He said county employees do the work.  But last year’s budget crisis forced the county to lay off two employees, then three more retired, so the department is down to only three people to clean the massive courthouse.

“This is a golden opportunity for us to reach out and try something new,” said Long.

Long says next week, he’ll ask the rest of the commission to allow him to put bids out for a contract with a cleaning company to do the work, like the City of Decatur does.

Mayor Don Stanford says Decatur took bids for a new cleaning contract this year and settled on Rite Way Service out of Birmingham.

They clean Decatur City Hall and the City Hall Annex for $75,600 a year.

Stanford said he told Long about it and urged him to follow suit.

Long said what makes the move even sweeter is the fact no one will lose their job.

“We found other jobs for those three we’re gonna place them in,” said Long of the three current employees in the County’s Cleaning Department.

Long added there are plenty of cleaning companies in Decatur that can do the job for half of what the county pays now.

Long said the county is already looking at a $1 million surplus going into the new fiscal year.  He’s hoping that saving money on the cleaning bill will add to that surplus, so the county will be better prepared to deal with any crisis that might come up.