Skip to main content
Back To Top Top Back To Top
The Legislative Service Commission staff updates the Revised Code on an ongoing basis, as it completes its act review of enacted legislation. Updates may be slower during some times of the year, depending on the volume of enacted legislation.

Chapter 5549 | Purchase Of Machinery And Equipment

 
 
 
Section
Section 5549.01 | Purchase of machinery, equipment, or wearing apparel - care and custody - inventory - storage - agreement for construction of switch.
 

The board of county commissioners may purchase such machinery, tools, or other equipment, including special wearing apparel, for the construction, improvement, maintenance, or repair of the highways, bridges, and culverts under its jurisdiction as it deems necessary. The board may also purchase, hire, or lease automobiles, motorcycles, or other conveyances and maintain them for the use of the county engineer and the engineer's assistants when on official business. All such machinery, tools, and equipment, including special wearing apparel, and conveyances belonging to the county shall be under the care and custody of the engineer, and shall be plainly and conspicuously marked as the property of the county.

The engineer annually shall file with the board written recommendations as to what machinery, tools, and equipment, including special wearing apparel, and conveyances should be purchased for the use of the county during the ensuing year and the probable cost thereof.

The board shall provide a suitable place for housing and storing machinery, tools, and equipment, including special wearing apparel, materials, and conveyances owned by the county, and may purchase the necessary material and construct, or enter into an agreement with a railroad company to construct, one switch or spur track from the right of way of such railroad company to land or storage house owned by the county. All expenditures authorized by this section shall be paid out of any available road funds of the county.

Purchases, hiring, or leasing made by the board pursuant to this section shall be governed by sections 307.86 to 307.92 of the Revised Code.

Section 5549.02 | Purchase of machinery, tools, trucks, and equipment for use in constructing, maintaining, and repairing roads.
 

(A) Boards of county commissioners, in the purchase of machinery, tools, trucks, and other equipment for use in constructing, maintaining, and repairing roads, may make such purchases upon the following terms: not less than one-fourth of the purchase price shall be paid in cash, and the remainder of the purchase price shall be paid in not more than five equal annual installments, except that if the board sells, as authorized by law, used vehicles, machinery, tools, or equipment owned by the county to the person or other entity from whom it is to make the purchase, the one-fourth cash down payment or any installments, or both, may be reduced by the amount of the selling price of the used vehicles, machinery, tools, or equipment. Each installment shall be not less than one-fifth of the balance due and shall be secured by a note which may contain a clause permitting prepayment at the option of the board. Such boards may issue the notes of the county signed by the board of county commissioners, attested by the signature of the county auditor, and covering such deferred payments and payable at the times above provided. Such notes may bear interest at not to exceed the rate determined as provided in section 9.95 of the Revised Code, and are not subject to section 131.23 or 135.51 to 135.54 or to Chapter 133. of the Revised Code. In the legislation under which such notes are authorized, the board of county commissioners shall make provision for levying and collecting annually, by taxation, an amount sufficient to pay the interest and provide a sinking fund for the final redemption of such notes at maturity.

Sections 5705.41 and 5705.44 of the Revised Code apply only to such portion of the purchase price of such machinery, tools, trucks, or equipment as is to be paid in cash, exclusive of any credit from the sale of used vehicles, machinery, tools, or equipment to the vendor.

(B) The boards of trustees of any two or more townships, or the legislative authorities of any two or more political subdivisions, or any combination thereof, may, through joint action, unite in the joint purchase, maintenance, use, and operation of machinery, tools, trucks, and equipment for use in constructing, maintaining, and repairing roads, and may prorate the expense on such terms as are mutually agreed upon, and any political subdivision may lease machinery, tools, trucks, and other equipment from any one or more other political subdivisions for use in constructing, maintaining, and repairing roads on such terms as are mutually agreed upon.

(C) Boards of county commissioners may also enter into leases which include an option to purchase machinery, tools, trucks, and other equipment for use in constructing, maintaining, and repairing roads. Any such contract to lease with an option to purchase shall require the board to pay at least three-twentieths of the total cost of the lease with an option to purchase in cash. If the board sells used equipment as part of any such contract, the three-twentieths cash down payment may be reduced by the amount of the selling price of the used equipment. Such leases with options to purchase shall be made from the lowest responsible bidder offering the equipment after advertisement as provided in section 5575.01 of the Revised Code. Such leases are not subject to the down payment and minimum annual installment requirements of division (A) of this section.

Section 5549.021 | Issuing general obligation bonds.
 

(A) A board of township trustees may purchase machinery, tools, trucks, and other equipment for use in constructing, maintaining, and repairing roads and, subject to Chapter 133. of the Revised Code, may issue for that purpose general obligation bonds of the township for which the full faith and credit of the township shall be pledged.

(B) A board of township trustees may enter into a lease for machinery, tools, trucks, and other equipment for use in constructing, maintaining, and repairing roads, including a lease with an option to purchase. Any lease with an option to purchase shall require the board to pay a cash down payment of at least three-twentieths of the total cost. If the board sells used equipment as part of a lease with option to purchase, the cash down payment may be reduced by the amount of the selling price of the used equipment. A lease with an option to purchase may be entered into only with the lowest responsive and responsible bidder of the equipment after advertising for bids in the manner provided in section 5575.01 of the Revised Code.

Section 5549.03 | Purchase of road material.
 

The board of county commissioners or the county engineer, when authorized by the board of county commissioners or the board of township trustees, may purchase from any public institution within the state any road material, machinery, tools, or equipment, quarried, mined, prepared, or manufactured by such institution.

Section 5549.04 | Purchase of materials - appropriation of land.
 

The board of county commissioners or board of township trustees may contract for and purchase such material as is necessary for the purpose of constructing, improving, maintaining, or repairing any highways, bridges, or culverts within the county, and may also appropriate additional land necessary for cuts and fills together with a right of way to or from such land for the removal of material. If the board of county commissioners or board of township trustees, and the owner of such material or land, cannot agree on the price therefor, the board of county commissioners or board of township trustees may proceed in accordance with sections 163.01 to 163.22, inclusive, of the Revised Code.

Section 5549.21 | Purchase of machinery, materials, and supplies.
 

The board of township trustees may purchase or lease such machinery and tools as are necessary for use in constructing, reconstructing, maintaining, and repairing roads and culverts within the township, and shall provide suitable places for housing and storing machinery and tools owned by the township. It may purchase such material and employ such labor as is necessary for carrying into effect this section, or it may authorize the purchase or employment of such material and labor by one of its number, or by the township highway superintendent, at a price to be fixed by the board. All payments on account of machinery, tools, material, and labor shall be made from the township road fund. Except as otherwise provided in sections 505.08, 505.101, and 5513.01 of the Revised Code, all purchases of materials, machinery, and tools shall, if the amount involved exceeds the amount specified in section 9.17 of the Revised Code, be made from the lowest responsible bidder after advertisement, as provided in section 5575.01 of the Revised Code.

If, in compliance with section 505.10 of the Revised Code, the board wishes to sell machinery, equipment, or tools owned by the township to the person from whom it is to purchase other machinery, equipment, or tools, the board may offer, if the amount of the purchase alone involved does not exceed the amount specified in section 9.17 of the Revised Code, to sell such machinery, equipment, or tools and have the amount credited by the vendor against the purchase of the other machinery, equipment, or tools. If the purchase price of the other machinery, equipment, or tools alone exceeds the amount specified in section 9.17 of the Revised Code, the board may give notice to the competitive bidders of its willingness to accept offers for the purchase of the old machinery, equipment, or tools, and those offers shall be subtracted from the selling price of the other machinery, equipment, or tools as bid, in determining the lowest responsible bidder. Notice of the willingness of the board to accept offers for the purchase of the old machinery, equipment, or tools shall be made as a part of the advertisement for bids.

Last updated September 22, 2023 at 2:44 PM

Section 5549.22 | Townships may join in purchase of property for road materials - election of superintendent - duties.
 

The board of township trustees may join with the boards of other townships of the same county or an adjoining county for the purpose of purchasing real property containing suitable stone or gravel for road materials, and the necessary machinery for operating such property, as provided in this section and section 5549.24 of the Revised Code. When one or more townships have so joined together the property purchased by them shall be held and owned by the townships in common, for the use and benefit of all. They shall, at a meeting of all the trustees of such townships after such purchase, organize a joint board and elect one of their members president and one secretary of the board, and they shall select a manager or superintendent to manage said property. The trustees shall provide rules and regulations for the conduct and management of such property. Such manager or superintendent shall be selected by a majority vote of all the trustees of the townships interested in the property, and they shall, in such session fix his bond and approve the sureties of such bond, and he may be employed for a period not to exceed two years. The joint board shall meet at such time and place as provided in its rules and regulations. Any township owning or purchasing real property containing suitable stone or gravel may, by a majority vote of the board of township trustees, sell an interest to any other township in the same county or an adjoining county, but the interest sold must be an equal undivided interest between all the townships so interested. No township shall purchase an interest in such property until the question of the purchase has been submitted to a vote of the qualified electors of such township as provided by section 5549.24 of the Revised Code.

Section 5549.23 | Sale of crushed stone, gravel, and sand - application of money.
 

From any real estate purchased and controlled as provided by sections 5549.22 and 5549.24 of the Revised Code, stone, crushed stone, stone screenings, dirt, gravel, sand, or other similar material may be sold by the board of township trustees in control thereof to residents of the counties in which are situated the townships owning such real estate, and for use in the construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance, or repair of a public schoolhouse, public road or any other public improvement, located in such counties. Such materials shall be sold at prices fixed by the board or joint board of township trustees in control thereof, which prices shall not be less than the full cost of producing such materials. The moneys arising from such sales, in excess of the actual cost of production, shall be placed in the road maintenance and repair fund of the township.

Section 5549.24 | Tax levy for purchase of land for stone or gravel.
 

No tax shall be levied or bonds issued by the board of township trustees to purchase real property, containing suitable stone or gravel for road materials and the necessary machinery for operating the same, unless such tax is approved by a vote of the people in the manner provided by law.