Allen County Commissioners are a lot closer to having a 2027 budget that won’t have a mill levy increase, and that may be in sight. During Tuesday evening’s meeting the Commission trimmed nearly a million dollars from original budget proposals on top of cuts made last week.
Among the additional cuts made were an additional 100 thousand dollar reduction in the Road and Bridge fund, a reduction in funding for the Bowlus Fine Arts Center of 49 thousand dollars from 2026, and reducing the budgeted cost of living increase from five to four percent, which on it’s own saves another just over 103 thousand dollars.
One major development is that Allen Regional Transit has indicated it would not charge for senior citizen rides, which may allow the county to drop that service altogether. From that, there’s a question as to whether it would permit a reduction in the services for the elderly mill levy due to how it was enacted
As of now, Commissioners are expected to finalize the budget at a July 20th meeting, which will be moved up a day in order to meet a state deadline on whether or not it will exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate.
A July 4th lightning strike at the Allen County 911 center damaged a number of pieces of equipment. 911 Director Chelsea Decker told Allen County Commissioners Tuesday an insurance claim has been filed as a result.
The dispatch center was operating on auxiliary power over the weekend as a transfer switch between it and city electric lines was inoperable. The strike fried a modem for their Cox internet connection which was replaced twice, and their backup AT&T connection was also having issues, which limited law enforcement ability to file report and impacted jail bookings.
Also damaged was a camera server and a copier and fax machine. Phone lines and dispatch equipment were not affected.
A compactor at the Allen County Landfill that had a full rebuild was returned to the facility Monday and is in service. Public Works Director Mitch Garner said the water truck recently ordered is expected to arrive next week.
Road and Bridge Supervisor Jeremy Hopkins said a noxious weed truck has been taken to Wichita for equipment morning and should be back in a couple of weeks. He also reported chip seal work is resuming in the Carlyle area, after which they will do work at the Humboldt Sports Complex and following that other projects.
Hopkins also passed along a comment he received from a farmer after striping work was done, that farmer saying the new striping “looks too nice.”
