WAYNE – Board of Commissioners with Wayne County approved their budget and set the final tax request as no one from the public attended the hearings Tuesday morning.
From the Wayne County Courthouse courtroom, information was handed out stating the total budget saw a decrease of $653,610.70 while the total tax dollar request increased $150,029.76. There was also an increase in the unused budget authority of $139,613.89. The board approved motions of increase the restricted funds by 1% and approve the 2020-21 tax dollar request 3-0 as well as the 2020-21 budget was adopted with a 2-1 vote (Rabe voted no).
The total valuation of Wayne County rose by one percent as the 2020-21 tax rate will be .258124, an increase of $5.23 per $100,000.
Moving into the regular agenda, county assessor Dawn Duffy approached the board with information about scheduling a pictometry flight. Brian Kesting, City of Wayne Technology Support Specialist, was also in attendance and stated the City of Wayne would put towards $10,000 – $13,000 of the total cost to cover their portion of the city and zoning jurisdiction.
Wayne County last had a pictometry flight in 2018 and Duffy wanted to inform the board about the price hasn’t gone up much and the imagining is getting better. Duffy has been in contact with Dixon and Cuming counties to see about potentially sharing costs since the flight would cross county lines in bordering communities.
Wayne County has until the end of the year to make a decision in scheduling a spring of 2021 pictometry flight.
Nebraska Machinery and Sooland Bobcat also submitted their bids for a track skid loader. Commissioners tabled the information to take a closer look and compare the numbers.
Berggren Architects provided an update on the courthouse restoration project as trim work will be completed on the east oriel along with copper work that may take about four weeks. Commissioners will receive an agenda from the contractor as work could continue into early October.
The next regularly scheduled Wayne County Board of Commissioners meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 15 at 9 a.m.