LIMA — When it comes to the year that was, Allen County commissioners believe there are reasons for optimism when it comes to the direction that county government is taking, and while questions remain concerning the direction of the economy overall, the commissioners maintain they are putting the county in the best place financially to succeed long-term.
When asked to look back on some of the major developments of the past year, commissioners pointed to the recent acquisitions of property along North Main Street, including the building formerly occupied by the now-closed Hofeller, Hiatt and Clark men’s clothing store. The end goal will be a new county administration building designed to house multiple county agencies.
“It was a pretty big moment for us acquiring these properties over here and keeping the administration building downtown,” Commissioner Brian Winegardner said. “We looked for areas downtown, but nothing seemed to work out for us. We always had a plan B in the back of our minds, which is out south of town in the industrial park there, but [John] Heaphy approached us and said that he had these available.”
While initial environmental studies on these properties yielded positive results, additional work needs to be done before moving in on these properties, commissioners said, including taking boring samples to ensure that the ground will support the new structure. That, along with efforts to move all county courts to the courthouse, will keep much of the county’s administration within walking distance.
However, with the financing of these capital projects dependent on American Rescue Plan Act funding, the clock is ticking on getting these projects off the ground.
“We have to have it done by the end of 2026,” Winegardner said. “It sounds like you have plenty of time, but we started out with this money in 2021 and we’re coming into 2024.”
“If we stay on the architect’s schedule, we’re going out to bid somewhere around April 1 of this coming year,” Commissioner Beth Seibert said. “The new building would be occupied by March of 2026. That gives us a nine-month buffer for when that money would have to be spent, so it’s tight.”
As far as the county’s finances, the commissioners were pleased with how the various county agencies worked diligently to stay within budget and not go overboard with budget increase requests for the new year, resulting in what the commissioners described as a modest increase of $447,000 for the county budget going into 2024, with the proposed budget standing at $36.9 million.
“We’re just thankful that all the agencies worked together to deliver those kinds of numbers,” Seibert said. “Like everybody else in business and personal life, we’re concerned about this economy. We’re concerned about predictions that we’ve been hearing for close to two years about a recession.”
Part of fending off those economic concerns is keeping the county attractive to business, and for commissioners, keeping the combined state and local sales tax rate at 6.85 percent, good for 20th best overall rate in the state by county, is essential in that effort, with about 55 percent of the money spent by county agencies coming through the sales tax.
“When you talk about sales tax, we want people to shop here,” Commissioner Cory Noonan said. “We want that to be an advantageous thing to come here and spend less on sales tax, right? We have a lot of great businesses and boutiques and whatnot that are attractive because of the great service they provide. The sales tax is probably one of the last things on the list they look at, but it is there.”
Reach Craig Kelly at 567-242-0391.
