March 28, 2024

City saves money on new mower

Whenever the city can save money it’s always a good thing. Even if it is just on a mower.

However, this mower was slated to cost the city $54,000 out of the capital equipment budget. The maintenance staff at Westwood Golf Course, where the mower is used, was able to find a used mower, with identical model and year, for $1,500.

Administrative Superintendent Nathan Unsworth said the savings from the mower will go back to the current golf operations funds, essentially staying at Westwood Golf Course.

“The golf course is an enterprise fund, so basically it’s, as much as it can be, self sustained,” Unsworth said.

Both mowers are 2002 Tora Reelmaster 5500D and is specifically made to be easy on turf and other athletics fields.

“It was very good,” Unsworth said. “You know, we’ve had some expenses over the last couple of years and with the cool wet spring our revenue is down. So anywhere we can save some is always appreciated.”

Unsworth said the price to repair the old mower would have cost just as much as the used mower they just purchased.

“It was just to the point where it had exceeded its usage,” Unsworth said. “It had ‘X’ amount of hours way over what a normally good running mower has.”

Golf Superintendent Nick Cummins, who uses the mower, said the old mower had 8,000 hours on it while the new “used” mower has 7,300 hours. Cummins said they plan to use the old mower for spare parts, if needed.

“It’s just as old as ours it just has a lot less hours,” Cummins said.

The savings from purchasing a used mower are $52,500. The used mower is expected to last the golf course three to four seasons before the city will have to purchase a brand new one.

“It all depends on what’s available at the time,” Unsworth said. “We weren’t expecting to find a used mower for this price, so it all depends on what’s available from the local dealers that we work with.”

Staff writer Dave Hon may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 425, or at dhon@newtondailynews.com.