YORK — After two weeks of debate and a long discussion on Tuesday afternoon, the county board voted 3-2 to purchase five new motorgraders at one time.
Historically, the county board has purchased one or two motorgraders a year, as part of their rotation plan. But with looming new emissions standards, coming next year, the cost of motorgraders will be instantly increases in January. To avoid those extra costs, the commissioners looked into the possibility of purchasing five new machines, trading in five older machines and making annual lease/purchase payments.
As Commissioner Chairman Gus Brown said earlier, the annual payment would remain about the same as it has been in the past.
But some had concerns about changing up the rotation period — and having five motorgraders becoming old, used and in need of trade-in at the same time.
Two companies submitted bids — Nebraska Machinery and Murphy Tractor. Each submitted a number of different scenarios, makes and models, and trade-in allowances. Because of the vast number of combination prices and features of the machines offered, the county board and highway superintendent Don Robb took two weeks to review the bids.
“My big concern is that down the road, we’ll have five machines to replace all at once, all over again,” said Commissioner Kurt Bulgrin. “And as far as other counties doing this (buying large numbers for their fleet at once, this year) I think they had machines they purchased new in the 1980s that are now badly in need of being traded in. But with us, just because a good deal comes along doesn’t mean we have to get rid of good machines. I’d prefer buying two machines with Cat (Nebraska Machinery). I can’t support the five-machine option.”
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Brown noted that if the county purchased two machines, Nebraska Machinery would have had the best bid. He said if they went with five machines, the low bid then went to Murphy Tractor, because of a five-machine discount across the top.
“I wouldn’t have gone with the five machines either, two weeks ago,” said Commissioner Gene Bergen. “But I got a call this last week from a retired farmer who says his irrigation wells are also going to be getting more expensive and he’s going to buy three at one time to save money.”
Bulgrin asked what the payments would be for the five-machine deal. Brown penciled it out to be roughly $190,000 a year, for four years, pertaining to principal. He said the total interest would be roughly $74,000 total, for the entire four year period.
It’s been estimated that the price per machine will go up between $15,000 and $30,000 next year — but neither dealer said they’ve been given exact numbers from the manufacturers.
“We hear this range of $15,000 to $30,000 more,” Bulgrin said. “Do we know that for a fact?”
“I went to a class on this Tier Four (the reference given to machinery adhering to the emissions standards) and they don’t know for sure,” said Commissioner Steve Neujahr. “Next year, we will need to replace some machines, there’s no way around it. If we get five now, that will give the manufacturers some time to perfect these machines.”
It was also noted that thousands of dollars have been spent in recent years to repair some of the machines they were considering trading — including $42,000 for one in particular.
“If you increase the county road budget that much, what are we going to do with our budgets?” asked County Assessor Ann Charlton. “You said we can’t increase our budgets at all.”
“It may not be an increase at all,” Brown said. “The one machine a year has been in there before.”
Brown also noted past expenditures for machinery and equipment have been in the same ball park for recent years.
“Tax dollars pay the bills,” Charlton continued. “What happens if the tax dollars get cut in half? What happens then to everyone else’s budget? Will there be money to handle all these maintainers?”
“The tax dollars won’t be cut in half, Ann, you know that,” Brown said. “We’ve been spending more than that in the past, so the $190,000 isn’t as much as we have been spending.”
“And that was before me,” Robb said.
“I don’t care who it was,” Charlton responded.
“We’ve spent $146,000 in repairs on those five (current machines) in the last few years,” Brown said. “This warranty will cover the maintenance on these new machines.”
Brown said he also talked with semi dealers and others affected by the new emissions standards, who said it was in the county’s best interest to purchase more machines now, to avoid those extra costs.
“We could really be tying our hands,” Bulgrin said. “What if the bottom falls out of the ag economy? I can support buying two machines, not five.”
“With the multiple unit discount, I think five could be the best way to go,” Brown said.
“Five years is a long time,” Charlton said. “A lot of things can happen in five years and you can’t count on things coming in the same way for five years.”
“When I got on the board, the county already had leases on five big pieces of equipment,” Brown said.
“I think it’s a bad idea to do five machines at one pop,” Bulgrin said.
A woman, who didn’t identify herself, told the board she thought buying five machines at once was the wrong way to go.
“I don’t see how you can justify spending a million dollars on something we can’t afford,” she said. “It’s hard for people to understand, when we don’t have gravel on our roads. Have you asked the newly-elected commissioners what they think, because they’ll inherit this hardship. You’ve already extended your spending this year. Why add insult to injury?”
Brown then asked the newly-elected commissioners (who will take office in January and were present at this portion of the meeting) their opinions on the matter.
“Stick with the current pattern and regular rotation schedule,” said Paul Buller. “Things can go wrong. I could walk out of here and get hit by a truck — half of you would probably be happy. I didn’t expect it, but it happened.”
Tom Shellington said he felt “two is plenty.”
Neujahr, Bergen and Brown voted in favor of purchasing five motorgraders, with Bulgrin and Commissioner Pat Bredenkamp voting for two.
“I hope you didn’t open a can of worms we can’t catch,” Buller said, as he left the room.
http://www.yorknewstimes.com/articles/2010/06/30/news/doc4c2aada0727e7334740314.txt
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