MARIES COUNTY — The Maries County Commission had a visitor at one of its meetings last week when the new Fabick Cat Territory Manager came to the meeting to introduce himself to the commissioners.

Dave Burns has worked for Fabick for a long time. He currently is working out of the Columbia office. 

Maries County’s graders are getting older. They were purchased new in 2016 and have been out of warranty for some time. The past practice of trading in the road graders before they were out of warranty is now just that, a past practice. The high price tag on the new graders was too much to overcome when the road districts still owed a lot money on them and the buy-back on the old machines was not as generous as it used to be. 

Burns said the Tier 4 requirements, which lowered the emissions coming out of the stack of a motor grader, have been the primary cause of the price hikes. The Tier 4 kept them from being sold overseas. Burns said overseas they don’t want the Tier 4 graders and Fabick can’t legally sell them graders without it. “Third world countries don’t have mechanics to work on them,” he said. 

Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel said it hurt the market in the United States, too. “They cost too much and too much to work on them,” he said. Burns said the emissions standards are “still a pain.” On emissions, “The government cares about what’s going out of the stack.” 

Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said the new emission standards do work as when you see them, “That stack will never be black.” Burns agreed the new emission standards work, but said they just went too fast when establishing them. He said they are getting away from Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) emissions.

As for the prices of new road graders, Burns said this year they’re going up about 11 percent, which he said is due to the demand. “The factories can’t keep up. It’s hard to get steel and chips. They’ve paid triple for chips. It’s all out of China,” he said. “We’ve got to get back to making things here. We’re not the smartest country in the world.” 

Drewel said they may be pushing overseas so they don’t have to go through the environmental stuff. Fagre said the United States is going to start making the chips. Burns said he is concerned about how China is buying up land in the United States. “Once they have control over our food, we’re in trouble.”

Drewel asked how long will it take to get a grader if they order one, about a year? Burns said yes, about that. With government orders, the company will hold a price because the county has a budget to stay within. Drewel was curious about how much these machines increase in price each year, and guessed about $20,000. Again Burns agreed, saying he’s seen big changes. 

He offered to go look at the county’s road graders to give them a trade-in price. 

Road One has three 12M3 road graders and Road Two has two 120M road graders. 

Fagre asked the cost of new 12M3s and Burns said the mid-$300,000s. The company also is once again offering old style hand levers for steering. Fagre said the grader operators may not want to go back to levers as the guys got used to the joy sticks. Drewel said it was hard for the older guys to switch, but once they got used to it, they didn’t want to go back. 

Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said he thinks they will do better selling the used road graders themselves. Burns said he can put something in the contract that the county has first right to sell it. The county also can rent graders, but it’s a lot more money. 

Drewel said they used to trade in road graders every five years, but they got too high and there was not enough buy-back on the used ones. About the high cost of the road graders, Burns said, “I’m seeing numbers I’ve never seen in my life.” 

“With the county, we only have so much money,” Drewel said. “Taxes aren’t going up.”

Burns suggested going down to smaller machines to save money. The 12M3 machines Road One uses are more expensive. Fagre said he uses this type because of the steep hills in Road One and the 120Ms did not have enough power to get up them. 

Burns said he will give the commissioners some prices. Also, it can be put in writing the county can keep its old graders until they get the new ones, and the county will keep the machines in operating condition. 

Stratman said they probably will check with John Deere, too. Burns told the commissioners Fabick wants their business. 

Drewel said, “Then get us some numbers.”

167 Cows

Stratman said the Show Me Select Replacement Heifer Program will be having a sale at South Central Regional Stockyards in Vienna on Saturday, May 2, 2023, at 4 p.m. Cattle producers who want to be a part of this local sale should get with the extension office soon if they want to sell on this program. The animals have to have calf hood vaccinations by the time they are a year old. 

There will be six Show Me Select sales in Missouri. Cattle farmers can participate in which sales they choose to. Last year Vienna had the second highest number of cattle in the fall sale with 167 cows. Stratman said any time they can add value, it’s a good thing for the area. 

Look into feasibility

Stratman reported students from Missouri S&T will be doing some feasibility studies in Vienna. They are looking into the feasibility of charging stations here and will be investigating and researching the best process of it. There may be grants for it. Stratman said nothing is binding as the process is for the S&T students to gain experience and knowledge from the research for a class. They also will work with the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. The group may also do the same for Freeburg. 

People are talking

County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers said people are talking about the prosecuting attorney’s big raise and saying Maries County will have to raise taxes to pay for it. She said this is not true as Maries County can’t raise taxes without a vote of the people. There is legislation in place that controls this. Already the county is “maxed out on sales tax.” Even if the county wanted to ask for another sales tax, it can’t.

Rodgers said the county’s tax levy is based on the Maries County’s assessed valuation and the county’s sales tax revenue. If the county’s sales tax revenue is more sales tax than they thought it would be, that is considered a surplus and prompts a roll back of the tax levy to make up for it. Growth in tax revenue comes from new construction and new businesses. “We can’t make money,” she said. 

Stratman said the license office makes money that goes into general revenue, but there also are expenses with that office as well. 

Drewel said they have the ARPA money and that will help the county hold up for a while. There is building going on at the airport in Vichy, the marijuana place, and Quaker are all prospering. There are tax abatements on some of the new manufacturing businesses but these are necessary to get a company to locate in the county.  Drewel said if they need more money, the voters will probably support them as they did with Skouby’s raise. “You don’t know what tomorrow brings,” he said. “Don’t get excited. Wait until budget time.”

Near the end of the meeting, Prosecutor Tony Skouby stepped into the room. He thanked the commissioners for their support and Stratman thanked him as well. He told them, “I will find you some money. I will bring you some money.”