By Betsy Finklea
More than $1.6 million has been spent by Dillon County during the past three fiscal years on labor alone for repairs for county vehicles including heavy equipment.
According to County Administrator Tony Clyburn, the following amounts were spent:
—2016-2017 Fiscal Year: $525,000 on labor alone to repair county vehicles
—2017-2018 Fiscal Year: $534,000 on labor alone to repair county vehicles
—2018-2019 Fiscal Year: $605,000 on labor alone to repair county vehicles
Clyburn said that 75 percent of these repairs took place at the landfill. Also, each one of the three years, the county spent $100,000 in rental fees. Clyburn said last month residents had complaints about the landfill that were caused due to vehicles in disrepair, and these complaints have been heard loud and clear.
Clyburn said this has been a problem for the county for years, and council made him aware of the problem when he got here.
Clyburn noted that preventive maintenance would have prevented approximately 85 percent of these costs. Clyburn said they had hired a mechanic who had saved them $300 on a switch and $2,300 on a fuse system on one of the trucks.
The mechanic position had become vacant since this meeting, and the county is currently advertising for a mechanic.