The city is getting two new dump trucks, complete with a plow and a salt spreader for each vehicle.

City Council members approved the purchase of $238,939.36 Monday. The units replace two 1999 Chevrolet dump trucks and were purchased through the State of Missouri bid process, which essentially saves municipalities money.

The total bid price for each unit, complete with plows and salt spreader accessories, is $119,469.68.

Hargis said existing vehicles are getting to the point where they are getting too expensive to keep repairing.

“We rebuilt the transmission in one of them for $16,000,” City Engineer Steve Hargis said. “It’s still in use, but they could go any time.”

The vehicles are used throughout the year — in summer for street resurfacing and in the winter for snow removal and salt spreading.

The old vehicles, which are valued at about $15,000 each, were not acceptable for trade-in. International Truck Corp., which has offices in Springfield, Kansas City, St. Joseph and Joplin, was the successful bidder.

City Council members also approved the purchase of a new wheel loader for the purchase price of $103,137, less the trade-in of $43,500 for a total of $59,637.

Like the Dump trucks, the wheel loader was purchased through the State of Missouri bid process.

“If I were a contractor, I couldn’t buy it for this,” Hargis said. “It’d be 25 percent more.”

City Council members approved the awarding of the bid to Crown Power and Equipment, which has offices in Columbia and Jefferson City.

After bids were awarded, City Finance Director Steffanie D. Rogers sought approval from City Council members for financing for both the dump trucks and the wheel loader.

Rogers said both purchases — the trucks and the wheel loader — were budget items for a five-year payment schedule of $51,000 and $21,000, respectively. City Council members approved the financing bid to Commerce Bank with a rate of 3.53 percent of $51,159.18 annually for the trucks and $12,768.85 for the wheel loader.

Hargis concluded the evening by asking City Council members to approve the purchase of a Bobcat with a trailer. Once again, Hargis sought the bid through the statewide bid process for a total of $33,290. Hargis’ 2007-’08 budget appropriated $32,000 for this purchase.