Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-02-21
SPENDING THE couNTYs MONEY

The bids received by the Board of Freehoders for the
hvo automobile trucks that are being bought for the county
his spring make an interesting study. Out of nine bids re-
ceiyed ranging from $3.50 to $l2,5li. so the freehold
ers awarded the contract to the highest bidder:
Two reasons are given for this most unusual, if not I'M
lawful. action. In the first place, the f~reeholders were will
ING TO nav the highest price in order to secure what they
considered the best truck, But in this case it so happened
That the lowest bidder offered to furnish the same make OF
truck that the highest bidder offered. In other words, the
freeholders had before them two bids for the same make
Of truck, one bid was for $7,76O and the other was LOT
Si2, 5l1. go yet they gave the contract to the firm bidding
Si2, SLIGO.
But in the opinion of a great many truck users some
Of the other trucks that were offered for anywhere from
two to three thousand dollars less than the highest price
offered are among the best on the market and are giving
excellent service. Had the freeholders been buying trucks
FIR a private concern it is very doubtful if they would have
paid over Sl2, 900 when they could have bought some of
the other standard makes for from two to three thousand
dollars cheaper, not to mention the fact that trucks OF the
make which they considered the best were offered for near
" SIS, 900 less.
The other reason given by the freeholders for award
Ing the contract to the highest bidder is that the firm max
ing the truck for which the highest price was asked is a
Middlesex county concern and pays considerable taxes here
every year. But the trucks offered by the lowest bidder
were also the product of this same concern, so that the
same purpose would have been served by accepting the
lowest bid and, incidentally, about five thousand dollars
would have been saved the taxpayers.
But since when have the %freeholders become so So
fictitious about patronizing Middlesex county manufacturers?
We have in Middlesex county the plant OF the Barber Asphalt
paving Company, giving employment to hundreds OF Mid
dlesex county taxpayers and, at the same time, paying thou
sands of dollars in taxes itself. Yet there does not seem
f. be anv inclination on the part of the freeholders to favor
the product of this concern when paving contracts are pelns
awarded. In fact, in most of the hundreds OF thousands OF
dauars worth of paving done each year, this local paving
concern is deliberately barred even from bidding, a patented
material made by an outside concern usually beng specl-
fed. Truly, if the f%reeholders are SO anxious 20 help .he
manufacturers of Middlesex county as they would have the
nubIic believe in their action regarding the purchasing OF
two automobile trucks, they would give the Barber asphal'
neople more consideration in the matter OF paving.
Thus. when the reasons given by the freeheldefs lof
,xuardino the contract for trucks to the highest bidder are
analyzed the average taxpayer still is left to wonder why the
countv funds are thus handled. One reason, OF course, is
that it is the countys money, not private funds, that the
freeholders are spending in this most generous manner.