Road superintendent proposes leasing 13 new graders; committee briefed on buyout and lease options
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Summary
Washington County road superintendent presented options to replace 13 road graders whose leases are expiring; staff recommended a lease plan that trades in existing machines and spreads payments over a five-year lease to limit a large one-time buyout.
The Washington County road superintendent told the Financial Budget Committee on Sept. 9 that 11 of the county's 13 road graders are at the end of their leases in 2026 and recommended replacing the fleet via a new five-year lease.
Superintendent Crowder explained the department tested sealed bids and received two competitive offers. One option would require a large immediate buyout and a $1.488 million upfront payment and a transfer of $1 million from the county general fund to the roads fund. A second option would lease all 13 new graders, purchase out the remaining lease months on one machine that had a newly installed motor, and absorb most trade-in value; Crowder said option two would carry lease payments of about $463,000 for the coming year and $5.56 million spread across the subsequent remaining years of the five-year lease.
Crowder said part of the reason for timely replacement is that the current graders are aged and requiring increased maintenance; he noted graders have a hard, heavy-duty service life on dirt-road maintenance. He also said the department will retain one recently repaired grader rather than trade it in as a floating spare.
Crowd and committee members also discussed related capital items including mobile crusher leases and dump-truck lease payments. Crowder said the substitution/ trade-in values will reduce the one-time cash impact if the county proceeds with the lease-trade option.
Ending: The superintendent provided additional written cost scenarios for committee review and said the department will follow the committee's direction as budget deliberations continue.
