The county Road Commission opened bids for purchasing two new tandem-axle trucks for snowplowing this week.

At its meeting Tuesday afternoon the commission opened three bids for the cab and chassis portion of the truck as well as the only bid received for equipping the vehicle. The commission unanimously directed management to review the bids and award them in the best interest of the Road Commission.

The three bids were:
• Duthler Truck in Wyoming, $84,727 for a Sterling LT8511 with the specified Cummins diesel engine.
• Central Truck in Lansing, $84,455 for the same vehicle.
• Zaremba Equipment, Inc., in Gaylord, $89,158.80 for an International 6700 cab and chassis.

The only bid for equipping the truck came from Truck and Trailer Specialties of Traverse City. To have all equipment installed for plowing and other uses, including the “patrol wing” side plow, the bid was for $67,613. Without the wing plow installed, the bid was for $57,630.

“So basically we’re looking at pay $150,000 per truck,” said chairman Lee A. Bowen. In its 2008 budget the commission estimated the cost for a new truck at $140,000, so the bids were higher than expected.

“It wasn’t that long ago you could get a new plow truck fully equipped for less than $100,000,” said member Glen M. Noonan, who is in his 37th year of serving on the Road Commission. “I can remember when they cost a lot more less than that,” he said.

With fuel costs continuing to skyrocket, the commission has already started to make adjustments to its 2008 budget. The commission decided earlier this year to delay the purchase of a new crew-cab pick-up truck for the Maple City garage, which had an estimated cost of $30,000.

Road Commission members and staff are also looking at fuel costs. According to clerk Joe Nedow, the commission used 126,200 gallons of diesel in its trucks and equipment for 2007. The estimated fuel economy of a fully loaded plow truck while its plowing is 3½ gallons per mile. Nedow said the price of diesel for the commission as of Tuesday was 4.164 a gallon, up 5.5 percent from June price of $3.929 a gallon. Compared to July 2007, the price of diesel has skyrocketed 73.7 percent from $2.396 a gallon.

Assuming diesel stays at the July 15 price and fuel use remains the same as 2007, the commission will spend $525,497 this year, about $200,000 more than last year.

Noonan said the commission needs to consider fuel economy in future vehicle purchases. “This is something we didn’t worry about as much in the past, but with these prices, it is something we have to consider,” he said.