A Closer Look at the Millions the County Spends on Road Rocks
Fayette County’s four commissioners maintain 871 miles of county roads. That requires millions of dollars in gravel, limestone, asphalt, culvert pipes and other materials every year, not to mention all the fuel it takes to power their equipment.
The commissioners try to seek bids every year for those materials. That’s because according to state law, they’re limited to purchasing no more than $100,000 from a single vendor in a year unless they go through a formal bidding process.
At their meeting last Thursday, Jan. 8, the Commissioners Court awarded annual bids for several types road building materials. Some of the bids ranged widely in price.
For example, bids for hot mix asphalt ranged from $64.50 to $87 per ton for pickup at the plant. Commercial base limestone bids varied from $6.75 to $30 per ton at the plant. If the County needs those materials delivered, they cost even more.
The Commissioners Court typically accepts and awards all the bids submitted. When one of the precincts needs material, the Commissioner tries to source it from the lowest bidder. But the cheapest supplier may not have that particular product available when the County needs it. In that case, the Commissioner tries to get it from the next-lowest bidder.
Other times, the location of the supplier or delivery costs play a role. The Pct. 3 road and bridge department, based out of Flatonia, may be able to get materials more easily from gravel pits in New Braunfels. The Pct. 2 department, based out of Warrenton, might find it more cost-effective to get materials from a supplier in Burton.
Besides the fluctuations in prices, some long time suppliers didn’t bother to submit any bids this year.
County Auditor Cindy Havelka some other counties solicit bids for half a year instead of annually.
“To be honest, our contractors probably would prefer that,” saidAssistant CountyAttorney Blake Watson. “We’ve dealt in the past with annual bids and then something happens when prices skyrocket way up, and they’re locked in with us for a year.”
County Judge Dan Mueller suggested awarding all of the bids submitted at this time, and then the County could switch to a six-month bid schedule a year from now. The Court agreed and voted unanimously to award all of the bids received for the various grades of limestone and gravel, asphalt products, culvert pipes and fuel, with the exception of one bid that appeared to be an erroneous duplicate.