It's been a busy year for the county with different capital projects being finished while others are still in the works. At the weekly Lima Rotary Club meeting, the Allen County commissioners highlighted some of those projects and gave insight to the county budget.
Commissioners Jay Begg and Cory Noonan spent time talking about the duties that they have as commissioners when it comes to funding for the county. For this year, the money has already been spent, but things seem positive for the rest of 2019.
"The overall budget looks good, sales tax is coming in slightly higher than last year, so will have a little bit of money to be able to meet the needs of the county," said Begg.
The commissioners also stressed that working on capital projects is a big priority once operations are taken care of.
Work on the Allen County courthouse clock tower was one of the finished projects that the commissioners discussed during the presentation, as well as their desire to continue work on the courthouse as a whole. Some of the county's most recent projects have already been completed this year, but others are still on the drawing board to be completed by the end of December.
"The biggest project this year was the juvenile detention center that was finished up and it’s ready for occupancy; we had to borrow the money to meet half of the cost of that facility, we’re working on paying that debt off and we should have it all off by next year," said Begg. "We’re moving the Board of Elections out of the basement of the Court of Appeals Building and we want to have that done in time for early voting for next year’s presidential - that’s coming in at the tune of about $200,000."
The commissioners are also asking members of the public for their input on what they'd like to see with capital projects in the county. You can contact the commissioners directly by phone (419-228-3700 ext. 8725) or by e-mail with any comments you might have.
