WINTHROP -- Ballplayers could find themselves knee-deep in grass if the town and schools fail to work out an agreement on mowing school fields.

Neither entity has money to pay for mowing, officials said Monday night during the school committee's budget presentation to council.

Town Manager Cornell Knight said he cut the budget of the cemetery crew by $20,000 and let school officials know last September the town crew would stop mowing school grounds.

"The school has mowers," Knight said. "I don't have people available, but there are mowers available for school staff to use."

He said the cemetery crew, which also cuts the lawns on town property, including Norcross Point, had done the schools and school fields for three years.

Last September, Knight said he wrote to Superintendent Mark LaRoach proposing that more than $76,000 in grounds maintenance services provided by the town to the schools be used to offset the money the town pays the Winthrop School Department for Town Office rent.

The Town Office is located on the first floor of a Winthrop school building.

The school has yet to respond, LaRoach said at the council meeting.

"Unfortunately, when it comes to athletics out at Winthrop, they want to have great programs but there's not much of an infrastructure plan," Eric Turner, athletic director for the Winthrop schools, said Tuesday.

He said somebody will cut the grass prior to baseball and softball games.

"The custodians at school and I will make sure it's cut," Turner said. "Literally, that means I may be jumping on the John Deere."

He said he also was concerned with maintenance of the various athletic fields.

"There's a lot of time and energy into growing grass just on the football field," Turner said. "If you don't take care of it, it will fall apart during the season."

"There's a lot of volunteers here," Turner said. "People, if they see a need, they'll fill it. Somebody could roll up with the riding mower and mow the infield if they thinks it's too long."

Town Councilor Kevin Cookson said Monday he preferred a less cumbersome arrangement than billing each other.

"When I say the town, I'm not talking our side of the table. I'm talking school and town; we're all one," Cookson said. "When you've got the town billing the school and the school billing the town, quite frankly it's all BS. It's all your tax dollars."

Knight and school officials were to meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the problem.

"The idea is to have some shared services," Knight said. "We could do the mowing, and they could do some services for us."

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com