While there would be initial costs, creating a full-time public works department in Durham would lead to a savings for the town, according to a report presented to the selectmen last week.

At a meeting on Jan. 3, Durham’s Administrative Assistant Janet Smith and Road Commissioner Shawn Bennett, along with members of the Public Works Feasibility Study Committee, indicated that if residents approve the creation of a public works department at town meeting in April, Durham could save thousands of dollars on what it spends to maintain its roads and other projects.

The Public Works Feasibility Study Committee has spent the last several months figuring out the cost of the town operating its own public works department, something Durham has never had.

The town has two part-time employees who handle road maintenance, and Bennett shares the road commissioner position with both Durham and Pownal. Durham’s part-time employees handle patching potholes, repairing and replacing road signs, roadside mowing and other similar tasks. All of the town’s other public works projects, such as digging drainage ditches, culvert replacement, gravel road maintenance, brush and tree work and all plowing, are performed by outside contractors.

According to the report presented to the selectmen last week, Durham is budgeted to spend about $1.2 million on public works-related projects, including $706,000 for plowing in 2012-2013.

An estimated 2014 budget was presented to the selectmen at the meeting, and that budget showed a 3 percent increase in the operating budget and a 5 percent increase in plowing expenses, for a total of $1.3 million.

“We thought estimating a 5 percent increase was a good estimate,” Smith said.

Under the proposed plan for a Durham public works department, the town would go from having a shared road commissioner and two part-time employees to having a road commissioner, a working foreman, a mechanic/equipment operator, a second equipment operator, two truck drivers/laborers and four part-time seasonal plow operators.

“We did some studies on what other towns have in road mileage per employee and what our contractors are doing now (to come up with that list),” Bennett said, adding that Durham has 47 miles of public roads.

The committee’s report indicated that, including salaries and all benefits, the total personnel cost to the town would be just under $380,000 per year.

As for the required equipment the department would need, the committee is recommending the town buy six plow-equipped dump trucks, two 1-ton trucks, a loader/backhoe, an excavator and a 20-ton equipment trailer. The estimated equipment cost comes in at $1.4 million. Bennett said that the committee based the figure on buying all new equipment.

“That was the best way to get solid numbers,” he said, adding that if the selectmen chose to buy some of the equipment used, the cost could go down.

But even if the town chooses to buy $1.4 million worth of new equipment, taxpayers won’t have to foot the bill in a single year. Smith said the town could borrow the money to pay for the equipment with a 10-year bond at 3.5 percent interest, with annual payments of around $164,000.

“Certainly we’re not going to ask the town to put $1.4 million in the budget all in one year,” she said.

The committee also recommended that Durham acquire 10 acres of land near the center of town to build a 6,000-square-foot public works facility. The committee provided an estimate of $150,000 for the land, $1.1 million for the garage and the necessary tools, an additional $100,000 for a second out building, $50,000 for a 3,000-gallon above-ground fuel depot and $15,000 for a back-up generator, for a total cost of slightly more than $1.4 million.

Once again, the committee recommended spreading out the cost with a bond, this time for 20 years at 3.5 percent, for a total annual payment of just under $99,000.

In looking at the overall picture, the committee provided an estimated public works operating budget, including the loan payments for the equipment and the facility, of slightly higher than $1.2 million. When compared to what the town spent for public works projects and plowing in the 2012-2013 budget, there would be a savings of some $2,000, a savings that jumps to an estimated $71,000 when the increased estimates for the 2014-2015 plowing contracts are factored in.

By going to an in-house public works department, the town would also realize savings in major projects by not having to rely on outside contractors, Bennett said.

“If it’s a year when contractors are busy, we’re going to see higher costs (for projects),” he said, adding that the town would also save money on supplies by not having to pay contractor’s markups. “Going through a contractor, there’s going to be a mark up on supplies they purchase for a project.”

“You’re getting more for what you’re paying,” said Jeff Wakeman, chairman of the Durham Board of Selectmen.

Committee Chairman Terry Kirk called the committee’s recommendations a “Cadillac version” of a public works department, with the costs estimated on the high side to take into account worst-case scenarios. Kirk said if the town went forward with the plan, it could find that some costs are actually less than what the committee indicated.

However, Wakeman said, the savings indicated by the committee did not include any major capital projects that the town may have to undertake in the future, and that no matter what the town decides on the issue of an in-house public works department, it is still going to have to spend the money on those future projects.

“There are other costs, whether we go to a public works department or not,” he said. “We’re going to have to do capital projects.”

The selectmen didn’t take any action on the committee’s report, but, Wakeman said, the board would likely hold a public hearing on the issue in March to give residents time to digest the issue before it appears on the town meeting warrant in April.