Rising prices, limited bids push Cascade County vehicle purchases to $1 million

Cascade County Commissioners have approved the purchase of more than $1 million in new vehicles, a total that will push the county’s budget to operate, maintain, repair, and replace aging vehicles in its 200-vehicle fleet to nearly $2,658,000. Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the package, which includes a new prisoner transport van, six new Interceptor police cars for the Sheriff’s Department and an 11-vehicle array of light-duty fleet vehicles to be distributed to various county departments.

Les Payne, Director of Cascade County’s Public Works Department, told the commissioners that each year the county tries to replace seven to 12 vehicles, but auto manufacturer shortages in recent years have delayed that replacement schedule creating a build-up of aging vehicles within the county’s fleet.

“This is not a full order,” Payne said. “We’re not guaranteed our orders because certain manufacturers are not producing, and not selling nor taking orders. Several things factor into that. One is labor strikes, two is they’re so far backlogged on parts and vehicles that we couldn’t get or put in for. There were multiple vehicle requests that could not be filled because the manufacturer could not get them to us.”

The county issued three separate invitations to bidders on Nov. 16 of this year, one for the prisoner transport van, one for the interceptor police cars, and one for the light-duty fleet vehicles. In each instance only one bidder came forward offering to fill the contract. Dural Ford of Jacksonville, Florida, bid $100,918.64 to supply a 2024 Ford Transit Van with prisoner module to replace the 2003 prisoner van the county currently uses. That van currently has more than 136,000 miles on it. Dural Ford was also the only bidder on the interceptors, with a total asking price $443,200.92 for the six vehicles.

Bison Ford of Great Falls was the only bidder willing to supply the 11 light-duty fleet vehicles for the sum of $517,285.82, but those vehicles will not be delivered to the county for at least a year and perhaps longer. In no case did either Dural Ford or Bison Ford offer to purchase Cascade County’s used vehicles. Instead, they will be sold to the public at auction.

The county is also bearing the burden of a dramatic increase in the price of new vehicles. According to Kelly Blue Book the average cost of new cars is now well over $48,000 – up about $10,000 since September 2020.

“The car market has become much more complicated because of the enduring disruptions to buying habits, manufacturing, and personal finances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” states a Consumer Reports article from Sept. 2023. “Throw in the ongoing supply chain complications with computer chips limiting the total number of vehicles that can be produced, and it is clear why some automakers are putting resources toward the most profitable models.”

Payne said he was recently asked if leasing fleet vehicles would save the county money.

“For years I did a report comparing leasing versus buying and leasing was not an option, it was way overpriced,” said Payne. “I’ve had a gentleman from efleet (Enterprise Fleet Management) who has reached out to me. He has sent me a proposal that is very pricey, but I did ask him to set me up a 10-year plan.”

“Every time we’ve looked into leasing fleet, it’s not too bad starting out, but once all the fleet is within the lease then the price just goes through the roof,” he added. “It is something that’s been looked at multiple times and we’ll continue to look at it.”

During the 2023 fiscal year (October 1, 2022 - Sept. 30, 2023) Cascade County’s costs to operate, maintain, repair and to replace aging vehicles in its fleet was $2,395,982, a figure that exceeded the amount budgeted for that expense by more than $590,000. In 2024 that deficit is forecast to decline, but the county is still expected to spend close to $417,000 more than the $2,241,326 its set aside for fleet operations. Most of that deficit will be covered by money already received through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) or saved in previous years.”

But ARPA funding is running out. It was signed into law in March 2021, providing $130 billion in local funding equally divided between cities and counties. Cascade County’s portion was $15.8 million, but that money must be obligated by Dec. 31, 2024, and spent by Dec. 31, 2026.

The state and local government newsletter Route Fifty notes that city and county finances are feeling the strain as federal pandemic relief runs out.

“Governments are struggling to find their way out of this once ARPA money is gone,” said Farhad Omeyr, program director for research and data at the National League of Cities. That seems to be the major issue for smaller communities, and to some extent, larger cities. as well.”

“The federal money was great. The economy is doing better than expected,” said Richard Auxier, a senior policy associate in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “But for a lot of places, their main sources of revenue and their main sources of spending have been fundamentally altered by the pandemic.”

“The big issue is cost,” he added. “Everything has become more expensive. Labor is more expensive. Materials are more expensive. And revenues are just not growing at the same rate as costs.”

“I know the prices have gone up substantially,” said Mary Embleton, former Cascade County Budget Officer. “Bids are really difficult to get, and I know that this was not appropriately budgeted for. I’m curious to know what efforts are going to be made to fix this up and appropriate more funding or whatever its going to take?”

“How often do we replace these vehicles and what are they used for?” asked county resident Beth Cooper, specifically of the 11 light-duty fleet vehicles. “I have a 20-year-old Subaru that keeps going. I’m not sure how often these fleets are bought.”

Payne explained that the county manages its fleet of 200 vehicles on a 20-year rotational basis, and that any individual vehicle might be used by multiple departments during that 20-year period.

“We may adjust that from year-to-year and budget-to budget because certain things change,” he said. “Occasionally we have a vehicle that’s a lemon and has issues. So, it may be newer but we’re out of warranty and it’s nickel-and-diming us to death. We will move that vehicle up the list and get it out of the fleet so we can save costs on repair and maintenance.”

“All these vehicles except for the Sheriff’s Department’s interceptors are handled that way,” Payne added. “I have the option of moving the fleet around anywhere in the county. I look yearly and if I see a vehicle that’s had just 50 miles put on it, and another department has the same type of vehicle that has 60,000 miles put on it a year, then I’ll rotate those.

“Ultimately, we want to try to have everything equal out and to have the same mileages. Over its lifetime the same vehicle could go from ExpoPark to the Road and Bridge Department to the Health Department or the Department on Aging. It could go through four different departments.”

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Cascade County approves $1 million in new vehicle purchases