When the request is more than the resources, hard decisions need to be made.
Allen County commissioners have been going over requests from department heads for capital projects. These projects are funded through the casino dollars that the county receives from the state at about 1.2Â million dollars and an additional $300,000 to $400,000 from the general fund. With the number of requests received they had to prioritize the projects.
At the top of the list is a new control center at the county jail at $350,000, new hardware for information technology at $175,000, and three new cruisers for the sheriff's department at $85,000. Each department also has a budget for projects, but many projects have been scaled down and put on the back burner as the amount needed to do them exceeds the dollars available.
"It was 3.2, 3.3 million dollars, we've got 1.6, so we had to prioritize those for our own internal use and then we will deal with things as they arise," commented Allen County Commissioner Jay Begg.
Begg says at this rate they will never be able to catch up with needed capital projects. The proposed .2% sales tax increase that will be on the May ballot will generate enough revenue to meet capital needs. The sales tax dollars will go specifically for permanent improvement projects and will only last for 10 years. This will allow the annually budgeted capital dollars to be used for regularly scheduled building maintenance and office capital, such as safety service vehicles and equipment.
Begg says the sales tax, if passed, would be 2 cents per $10 purchase.
