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Lease or buy, which is better?
How much will it cost for either option?
Those are two questions the Kosciusko County Commissioners posed to Election Systems and Software (ES&S) regional sales managers Tuesday.
But the commissioners never quite got answers to their liking.
At the beginning of an ES&S presentation, Robb McGinnis said the company was trying to get an idea whether the commissioners were interested in leasing or purchasing new voting machines for the county.
If the company provided 66 machines to the county for this year's November election only, the cost would be more than $400,000, according to sales manager John A. Black.
"One election is going to only be a partial delivery of the hardware and software," Black said.
McGinnis said ES&S needs to know if the county wants to purchase or lease the equipment to give the county a firmer price estimate.
But county commissioner chairman Ron Truex said the commissioners don't have enough information to know if they want to lease or buy. While the state mandate of having the new voting machines by 2004 may not happen after all, he said, the federal mandate will require the county to have them by 2006.
Black agreed there are questions regarding the federal mandate that have not been answered to anyone's satisfaction. He then said if the county purchased equipment outright, including machines, software and one-year technical support, the cost would be more than $989,000. That cost for the first year would include 102 man-days for technical help, McGinnis said, but after the first year, the county would have to pay for that help at a cost of approximately $1,200 per day. If the county leases the equipment, support would be provided through the 2008 election. Cost for technical support per year would be approximately $26,000.
If the county leases 220 machines to the 2008 election, how much would the total cost be, Truex asked.
McGinnis said approximately $282,000, but that doesn't include all the other fees. Truex said the county needs to have a total cost.
McGinnis later said in all the figures he had, leasing the equipment would be cheaper for the county. However, the "equipment will last longer than you will use it." Most of their customers, he said, come to them and ask, "Why do we want to own this?" He said they don't see counties holding on to the equipment.
Were it not for the mandate, Truex said, they would probably hold on to the equipment they now have anyway, so if they buy the new voting machines, he said, they would probably hold on to them more than 10 -15 years if the equipment is as good as the ES&S representatives say it is.
McGinnis said they will look at the figures and try to come up with more specific total costs for the commissioners to consider.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Opened bids for the county highway department for two trucks and bridge projects on CR 100S, Warsaw, and Venetian Way, Syracuse.
Bids for bridge 290 (Venetian Way) included Primeco, $274,698, and Pioneer Associates, $325,457.50.
Bids for bridge 286 (CR 100S) included Primeco, $131,272.08; Pioneer Associates, $166,584.80; Beer & Slabaugh, $180,575; and Kelcon, $115,000.
Highway Department Engineer and Superintendent Rob Ladson said the engineer's estimates for the projects were $260,596.10 for bridge 290 and $105,440 for bridge 286.
Bids for the truck were received from Hill Truck Sales, W.A. Jones and Stoops of Lima.
Ladson will review all the bids received and make a report back to the commissioners in two weeks.
• Approved the vouchers for the Kosciusko Area Bus Service for the last quarter of 2002.
• Appealed a stop sign at the railroad crossing on CR 200W, south of CR 700S. The crossing now has operational lights and gates.
• Approved for Warsaw Community Development Corp. to use the courthouse lawn June 20-21 for the City of Lakes Festival and July 19 for a downtown car show.
Kosciusko County Commissioners are Brad Jackson, northern district; Ron Truex, middle district; and Avis Gunter, southern district. They meet at 9 a.m. in the county courthouse, Warsaw, every other Tuesday.
