CUMBERLAND –– Budget cuts are chipping away at services in Cumberland and that means doing away with chipping.

This month, the town announced suspension of its curbside chipping/brush removal service, blaming state budget cuts, but grass, leaves and Christmas trees will still be picked up.

Other cost-savings measures, such as agreements with the police, rescue service and municipal unions to freeze employee pay for 10 months draw the headlines.

The town this month posted on its Web site notice of the service suspension and recommended that residents contract privately for the service.

The town is looking to bring back the chipping/brush removal services in the spring, but through a fee-based system, Mayor Daniel J. McKee said.

McKee characterized Cumberland as among the more efficiently run communities, a place with a smaller work force in police and other departments than comparably sized towns in the state.

State cuts mean “We’ve got about a $2.2-million issue that we’re dealing with in this current budget,” he said, so town officials have had to find savings. That includes relatively smaller things, such as the town no longer paying a person $1,200 a year to produce a monthly senior citizens newsletter, renegotiating a fireworks contract and hiring one person to do the work of two finance department employees.

“It’s an example of where we have to go to find savings –– we have to go to chipping,” said McKee.

Cumberland was the only Rhode Island community that Public Works Director Eugene Jeffers knew of that offered curbside chipper service. Jeffers said the truck made about 2,800 stops a year. Some stops lasted five minutes; others, up to three hours.

Four people manned the truck and were often hired for the summer to help out. There was no money to hire them this year, and the aging chipper truck needed to be maintained.

mmckinne@projo.com