Warren County Schools are getting some much-needed new dumpsters after being approved by the county’s Budget and Finance Committee and the Financial Management Committee on Monday night. 

Director of Schools Dr. Grant Swallows asked the county Budget and Finance Committee for a budget amendment for the dumpsters due to a price increase.

“We met sometime last spring with County Executive Haley and we talked about the need for our school dumpsters. They are in bad, bad shape. So, we are the reason for that. We use them a lot. They are not in code and they’re leaking,” said Swallows. “Long and short of it, we budgeted for those, we got a quote on those, and by the time we got around to purchasing those, guess what? They were $17,000 more than what we had been originally quoted. That is the reason we are coming back and asking for a budget amendment to add to that and purchase those dumpsters for every school.” 

Financial Department director Justin Cotten said there are a total of 48 dumpsters that need to be replaced. Committee chair Scott Rubley said that it is about a $371 per dumpster increase. 

“Well, unfortunately you learn the hard way sometimes, but things have increased. So, we are kind of stuck where we are and really we need them. They are in bad shape,” said Swallows.

The committee discussed in a previous meeting having a separate sanitation truck specifically for school dumpsters, but ultimately decided getting new dumpsters for each school was more realistic. 

“I think the best option is the dumpsters,” said Rubley.

“The more expensive dumpsters were $1,600 and the cheaper ones were $1,510,” said Cotten

Swallows said the total purchase price for the new dumpsters will be $96,528. 

The committee approved the budget amendment.