From: TJ Loughlin (the Lunenburg Budget Project)
To: Kate Burnham, Ed.D., Superintendent, Lunenburg Public Schools
Subject: Costs of maintaining the school sports fields
Forwarded to this archive: 18 September 2026

HOW THIS REACHED US. An email exchange between the project and the Superintendent,
forwarded whole on 18 September 2026. The individual messages carry no dates in what was
forwarded, so none is recorded here; the exchange is bounded above by the forwarding date.
Reproduced as sent, trimmed only of signatures.

--- TJ Loughlin to Kate Burnham ---

Hey Dr. Burnham,

TJ here. Hope all is well!

I'm doing some research into the Parks' fields and putting some data together about those,
including the expenses spent on maintaining them.

I'm hoping you could help me with some information related to the schools. Is there any way
for me to have access to costs and expenses associated to maintaining the sports fields?
I'm curious what expenses there are, how much they are, and in what seasons (if possible).
I saw your Athletic report last May! I didn't see this info there, but it was mentioned
it's all related to a revolving account.

The purpose is mostly to compare the costs Parks is seeing for their fields and see if we
can adjust some expectations for them! This is not to criticize or review decision making
for anything for the schools FWIW. ha. Just using you all as a model for the other fields
(you all maintain your fields as best as possible!)

Thanks!
- TJ

--- Kate Burnham to TJ Loughlin ---

Hi TJ,

Good to hear from you. I hope you are doing well!

I'll dig up some info for you.

We outsource maintenance of the grass playing fields and we have covered that expense from
the Facility Revolving account. That is the account that field rental fees are deposited
into.

I'll have more budgetary related info on this for you soon.

Kate

--- Kate Burnham to TJ Loughlin ---

Hi TJ,

Looking back at the FY24 budget requests broken out by the Director of Facilities &
Grounds, the district costs related to maintenance of the fields and grounds was
approximately $126,000.  This included mulch, line paint, fertilizer, seed, loam, field
maintenance, repair of playgrounds, irrigation programming/repair, repair of equipment, and
vehicle maintenance and repair. Of course vehicle maintenance and repair, and repair of
equipment also support our snow removal operation. Maintenance and repair of vehicles and
equipment is approximately $29-30,000/annually (already included in the $126,000).

The cost of the landscaper (for mowing of the athletic grass fields) was $9,500 in the
fall, $9,200 in the spring, and $19,400 for summer (2023) repair. We did not do any field
repair in the summer of 2024.

Is this helpful?

Kate