Perry County School District to consider bus contracts today

The Perry County School District No. 32 School Board will consider bids for bus service for the next five years at its meeting, set for 7 p.m. today at the Career Center Multipurpose Room.

The board will first hold a closed session, then go into open session, public information/marketing director Kate Martin said in an email to the Southeast Missourian.

The board considered bus service at a meeting Wednesday, but tabled the item. Three bids -- one for contract services and two lease agreements -- were received, Martin said in a previous interview. In her email, Martin said there is a "misconception" that the board is buying its own fleet of buses, but that would cost $3.5 million, plus maintenance.

The district's three-year contract with Meyer Bus Line Inc. of Perryville ends June 30 and has a cost of $1,863,553 per year, including a fuel surcharge when gas is more than $2.75 per gallon. This time, the board has asked for bids for a five-year period with the current routes staying the same, Martin said in the email.

Currently, the district runs 28 regular and two special service routes and four to five early childhood buses. Bids for 40 buses were received from Meyer Bus Line, Midwest Transit, with several Midwest locations, and Midwest Bus Sales, which operates in Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri, according to their company websites.

Meyer, the longtime provider of bus service for Perry County School District No. 32, bid $1,595,329.50 for a five-year contract.

Superintendent Scott Ireland also negotiated the fuel surcharge with Meyer so there would be no fuel surcharge until costs reached more than $3.35 per gallon. This would be a savings of $298,723.50, compared to the current contract, the information said.

Midwest Transit bid a total of $1,185,938.14 on a lease agreement for 40 buses with three cameras on board. This would mean a $677,614.86 savings over the current contract, the information said. This includes "other estimated costs" of $727,903.14, such as adding a district transportation director and mechanic, all driver wages, fuel and insurance, the information said.

Ireland "estimated high" on each cost, and "is comfortable that the total estimate is accurate," the information said.

Midwest Bus Sales came in with a $1,183,192.14 estimate, also for 40 buses with three cameras on board; other estimated costs of $727,903.14 for a district transportation director, mechanic, driver wages, fuel and insurance. Total savings compared to the current contract is $680,360.86.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

326 College St., Perryville, Mo.