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Monday, Nov. 23, 2009

Bibb bid preference helps local car dealers

Last week, Bibb County’s government continued an annual tradition of paying more than it has to for new cars.

The extra money is going to a local car dealer that didn’t have the lowest bid. Under the county’s system of local preference, a local dealer with a price up to 2 percent above the lowest bid will still win the bid.

A salesman with Macon’s Riverside Ford unsuccessfully asked commissioners to move the line $61.48 beyond that 2-percent limit. Commissioners turned away those bids, which would have cost $391.92 per car more than necessary, or nearly $4,000 extra for 10 sedans.

The salesman who asked for extra leniency, Keith Horton of Riverside Ford, said it’s hard to say what a fair local preference should be.

“I was hoping, times being what they are here in Middle Georgia, maybe we could make an exception and keep the business here at home, but I do understand their point,” he said.

Riverside Ford was closer but not close enough with a bid on a single vehicle for a sheriff’s investigator. But Riverside Ford used the local preference credit to snare deals for eight sheriff’s patrol cars and a Ford Explorer. Those bids cost taxpayers $693.68 more than they would have spent with the lowest bidder, but they put about $170,000 into a Bibb County business.

County Commission Chairman Sam Hart, who led the committee that created the 2-percent local preference five years ago, said he plans to revisit the issue in the spring.

“I think we’ll probably look at it and make sure it’s doing what it’s intended to do, getting a good product at a good cost, and also circulating taxpayer money back into the community,” Hart said.

Another county commissioner, Lonzy Edwards, said his constituents are split on whether the local preference is wasteful or needed. Edwards said opponents say commissioners just inflate costs by 2 percent, but he thinks it’s a good value for taxpayers who get returns through a stronger economy and jobs.

But whether the local preference pinches taxpayers’ wallets or boosts the local economy, there doesn’t appear to be a great deal of money in it.

Bibb County purchasing agent Barry Smallwood said he doesn’t track local preference spending, but he said it’s typically used just once a year, with the vehicle buys, because of close competition.

“The local bidder’s amount would have to be within the 2-percent bid amount for it to even apply,” Smallwood said. “Usually, there’s a bigger spread than that.”

Car bids are more competitive because the manufacturer sells them for the same price to each dealer. Dealers then bid, trying to find a balance between getting the contract with the lowest bid and getting enough money to cover overhead, employee time and profit.

Another local bidder, Middle Georgia Freightliner, won outright a contract of about $167,000 for two large dump trucks. Prater Ford of Calhoun won with its bids of about $165,000 for 10 Ford Fusions, about $21,050 for a Crown Victoria and about $42,700 for two 15-passenger vans. Allan Vigil Ford of McDonough won bids of about $54,300 for three pickup trucks. Wade Ford of Smyrna won bids for about $32,900 for a tool body truck and $117,100 for a pair of smaller dump trucks.

To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251.