County to renegotiate rock contracts

Whitman County pays private quarry owners less than any county in the state. Public Works Director Mark Storey said that needs to change if the county wants to continue to have a reliable supply of road rock.

“We are right now the cheapest rate in Eastern Washington,” Storey told county commissioners in a workshop Monday. “If we don’t raise our rates, we may not have some quarries in very critical areas.”

Currently, the county pays 20 cents per ton of rock taken from privately-owned quarries. More than half of the 30 quarries used by the county are privately owned.

Storey said many landowners have asked the county to meet the higher lease rates paid by private construction firms. He suggested raising the rate to 30 or 40 cents per ton.

Private firms often pay higher rates than that, he said, but the county’s consistent need for supply often appeals to private quarry owners.

Cost of the increase to the public works budget would be about $10,000 to $15,000 per year, Storey estimated.