Pennington shuts down fountains for cost-saving measure

The fountain in the front of Pennington Biomedical Research Center has been shut off as part of a cost-saving measure. Jerry Blanchard, director of facilities management for the center, says the fountain facing Perkins Road and one in the middle of Pennington were turned off in anticipation of the budget cuts the center is facing. Pennington gets $16.2 million in annual higher education funding from the state and staffers were told to plan for a 10% cut and a 15% cut in the fiscal year that starts July 1. One way to save money was taking steps to reduce the energy usage at Pennington. “We’re raising the thermostats a little bit and trying to be as efficient as we can with air conditioning and lighting,” Blanchard says. Blanchard says the fountains were just shut down a few days ago, so it isn’t known yet how much center will save on utilities through the move. “We won’t know until we get our utility bills,” he says.—Timothy Boone