Walker County commissioners voted Aug. 25 to update the county’s purchasing policies after the legislature raised the formal-solicitation threshold for counties from $50,000 to $100,000.

Staff told the court the change follows the state law (discussed in the meeting as Senate Bill 1173) and asked the commissioners to raise the county’s internal threshold to match. Commissioners also discussed adjustments to the county’s informal solicitation bands so that smaller purchases can be made more quickly without full formal solicitation procedures.

During the discussion county staff and commissioners reviewed specific passages in the draft purchasing manual and identified typographical errors on pages 15, 22 and 24 that would be corrected to reflect the new $100,000 limit. Staff explained that informal bids would continue to require competitive pricing for many purchases, and that purchases above $20,000 will still come back to court for approval, but the county would increase the upper informal-bid threshold so routine equipment purchases could be completed more quickly.

After multiple clarifications and staff recommendations, the court moved, seconded and approved changes updating the manual to reflect the new state solicitation threshold and the related local threshold changes. The court instructed staff to revise the manual text to show the corrected numbers and to return any other proposed changes for further review.

County staff noted these changes do not eliminate competitive-bidding requirements for larger purchases and said that purchases above $100,000 will remain subject to formal solicitation procedures.

Staff also noted practical implications: raising informal-bid thresholds could let precincts and departments obtain equipment such as used heavy equipment or vehicles with three informal quotes rather than a longer formal solicitation process.

The court passed the motion to amend the purchasing policies as presented and asked staff to correct typographical errors before final publication.