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Pope County discusses leasing road graders to curb maintenance costs, staff to provide numbers
Summary
Court considered joining a pilot to lease five road graders (70–100 hours/month) under a deal where Riggs Caterpillar performs maintenance; officials said the swap could yield about $264,611.96 in proceeds and a net of roughly $130,000 after paying off one machine, but members asked for detailed savings projections.
Judge Ben Cross and staff presented a proposal to pilot a return to leasing road graders instead of purchasing them. Under the outline presented, the county would lease five graders on a fixed hourly basis (a contract window of 70–100 hours per machine per month), with maintenance handled by the vendor Riggs Caterpillar rather than the county.
Cross said the county currently pays roughly $5,394.97 per unit per month under purchase payments and that under the lease program the county would pay in the neighborhood of $5,000–$5,200 per unit per month with no maintenance obligations. He said an appraisal process has been completed and estimated the total profit from swapping equipment would be approximately $264,611.96; about $130,000 of that would be used to retire a remaining machine contract, leaving a net benefit and access to five new graders plus a paid-off grader.
Court members asked for clearer projections and challenged the hourly windows and buyer arrangements; staff confirmed Riggs would buy the old graders outright. Cross indicated staff will present more detailed numbers at the next meeting before any binding decision.
Next steps: staff to supply detailed projected savings, hourly-rate examples and trade-in/cash numbers for a follow-up meeting.
