County Says No To Two Bids For Replacing Backhoe, Still Hopes To Use Buyback Program

Neither bidder for a new backhoe satisfied Ste. Genevieve County’s bid specifications,
The County Commission sought bids that would include a trade-in value for the county’s 5-year-old John Deere backhoe and a breaker bar or hydraulic hammer that attaches to it.
The commissioners prefer taking part in the buyback program, in which generally about half the price of backhoe is guaranteed as a buyback price after five years when a new machine is purchased.
Erb Equipment is required to buy the backhoe back for $58,000. However, Erb has no interest in taking the breaker bar, used in breaking through rock or concrete. The bid specs wanted a minimum of $73,000 for the backhoe and breaker bar.
The other bidder, Fabick Tractor Company, a Caterpillar dealer, has no interest in taking either the breaker bar or the backhoe as a trade-in.
This leaves the county in a quandary. The commissioners consider the buyback program a godsend, with a hefty part of a new backhoe already paid for every five years. Since companies are trying to phase out the program, the fear is, once the county exits the program, it could never get back in.
The $18,000 breaker bar, though, was made for a John Deere and would probably not work with any other brand.
Since neither company followed the bid specifications, the commissioners agreed to reject the bids.

See complete story in the May 20 edition of the Herald.