County purchases three motor graders

Three new motor graders have been purchased for Jackson County’s road and bridge department, it has been reported.

During Monday’s Jackson County Commission meeting, the commissioners approved the purchase of three new John Deere motor graders at a total cost of $658,000 from Murphy Tractor of Topeka.

The county also agreed to sell three of its older motor graders to Foley Equipment of Topeka for a total cash value of $149,000. Those funds will be used towards the purchase of the new machines, it was reported.

The county agreed to purchase an all-wheel drive John Deere motor grader from Murphy for $240,000 in addition to two rear-wheel drive John Deere graders at a cost of $209,000 each.

Two other bids were received for motor graders from Berry Tractor of Topeka and Foley Equipment.

Foley Equipment bid $278,433 for an all-wheel drive machine and $246,638 each for two rear-wheel drive motor graders for a total cost of $771,709.

Berry Tractor did not submit a bid for an all-wheel machine, but included a bid for two rear-wheel machines at $235,764 each for a total cost of $471,528 for two graders.

The commissioners and Dan Barnett, road and bridge director, agreed to sell three of the county’s older motor graders instead of trading them in.

The best purchase bid was from Foley for $149,000 total for the three machines: a 2009 Caterpillar 120M ($55,000), a 2009 Caterpillar 12-H ($51,500) and a 2008 Komatsu ($32,000). 

Each of the machines has more than 10,000 hours on it, it was reported.

Murphy Tractor bid $104,000 to purchase the three machines from the county.

Berry Tractor did not submit a purchase bid.

The county now owns a total of 11 motor graders. None were purchased last year. Two machines were purchased two years ago.Commission Chairman Rob Ladner said that the road and bridge department is working on creating a rotation schedule for motor grader purchases so the purchases can be spread out over time.

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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