VIENNA — The Maries County Commissioners wanted to try to make a deal to replace the road districts’ current road graders with new ones, but the low trade-in amount quoted by Fabick CAT and the higher cost of the road graders made the commissioners decide there will be no deal made at this time under these circumstances.

Fabick CAT’s Steve Horstman was at the March 15 commission meeting with numbers for the commissioners. He offered two warranty packages. For a five-year warranty, a new CAT 120JOY motor grader is priced at $246,000 per grader with a trade-in price on the current graders of $93,000 for a total of $153,000 per grader. 

The seven-year warranty quotes were $251,000 for the same machine, with the same $93,000 trade-in on their 2016 graders for a price of $158,500 per machine. 

The extra two years of warranty cost is $5,500 for 2,000 more hours under warranty on the graders. 

Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said one of Road One’s graders has had a recent engine overhaul. Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said he thinks the engine is still under warranty. He added Road One’s graders also have had emissions updates at a cost to the county of $5,000 per grader. Fagre noted the accumulators were not included in the bid, and he needs this on each of the graders. 

Stratman asked Horstman if he can give them a better deal. Horstman said he didn’t think so. “They are only worth what they’re worth,” he said. 

The trade-in went down from $22,000 from last year when they priced new Fabick CAT road graders, and the new machine cost went up $25,000. The commissioners have tried to upgrade to new graders to keep them under warranty, but the higher the prices go this practice becomes more difficult and expensive.

Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel asked when they could get the graders. Horstman said in seven to eight months. The road graders are made in Brazil and with the coronavirus global pandemic, they are behind in a lot of inventory. 

Drewel said the current 2016 road graders, which have 5,000 to 6,000 hours on them, may run 9,000 to 10,000 hours. “They aren’t half worn out,” he said. He was anticipating a trade-in of over $100,000 but the current offer is $93,000. Road One’s trade in price went from $115,000 to $93,000. 

Drewel said he isn’t interested in trading at these prices and wants to wait and see what the economy will do. Fagre said they are talking about investing in American infrastructure and he thinks the used grader market will get better and they’ll get more on the trade-in with the graders. 

They talked about how low the resale value will go. Drewel said they have to get more for the machines. Stratman said they should pay these off before they buy new ones. Fagre said in the past they were able to build up equity in the machines and now with these prices it’s too much debt. 

He talked to a man who has operated heavy equipment his entire career. The man told him the machines will continue to run and do the work they need to do. If they need repairs, Fagre said it will be less expensive than buying new ones at this time. 

“I still have confidence in these graders,” Fagre said. “I’m not going to give them away for $93,000.”

The road districts still have debt from the last five graders they purchased. Road One, after making a balloon payment, owes about $300,000, and Road Two owes about $200,000. If they buy five new road graders it will cost a total of $765,000. That’s a lot of money and adding in what’s already owed, the road districts together would have over $1 million of debt for the road graders. Fagre and Drewel unwilling to do this and don’t see it as being fiscally responsible. 

Fagre said they will refinance the road graders using a tax anticipation loan.