Contract rock totals almost $1 million

     Contracts for contract rock in Jones County total $870,012.

     The Jones County Board of Supervisors approved three of the four contracts during their April 27 meeting, per County Engineer Derek Snead’s recommendations. Those contracts amount to:

     • Weber Stone, $437,284

     • Wendling Quarries, $263,376

     • Bard Concrete, $27,957

     “Weber has the majority of our contract rock,” Snead said. “Wendling has about a quarter of the roads. Bard has only four roads.”

     The contract for River City Stone is all that remains. Snead said the contract rock has to be down on the roads by July 16.

     “We never used to have a specified completion date,” explained Snead. He said while they’d like to see rock down by early June, it’s better for pricing if they give contractors some flexibility. “It drives the price down,” added Snead.

     Just under 75,000 tons of rock is expected to go down on Jones County gravel roads. The average contract price was $11.63 a ton.

     “That’s just a 2.2 percent increase from last year,” reported Snead, anticipating a much larger price increase.

     Up until this year, the average annual increase has been between 7 and 10 percent.

     “This is a really good deal,” commented Snead, “especially with the gas prices going up.”

     Secondary Roads budgeted about $1.1 million on contract rock for this season. So far, $200,000 has been spent on rock that has already gone down in-house.

     “We will be under budget, but not by much,” warned Snead. “The total might go up a bit with the addition of a couple of roads.”