Commissioners Hear Budget Requests, Adopt Allocation Resolutions

WAYNE – Following a morning meeting recess, the Wayne County Board of Commissioners held a budget work session Tuesday to address several preliminary tax dollar requests.

From the Wayne County Courthouse courtroom, commissioners heard from three different groups presenting their budget requests.

Executive Director, Luke Virgil with Wayne Area Economic Development first approached the board a few meetings ago with a potential increase in their request. He started Tuesday with a number that was double of what WAED has received in the past being $16,000. An option was also brought up by using the lodging tax grant funds to off-set this cost as the board is wanting to look more into the program itself.

The Board of Commissioners approved $10,000 to WAED for the 2021-22 budget.

Wayne County started with a $3,000 stipend from the county in 2006 and after funds didn’t go through in 2014 for a grant opportunity, the budget increased to $8,100. Another $100 was added in 2017 but the asking request has been the same for the past five years as Virgil would like to see this increase. A per capita example was provided being City of Wayne with roughly 5,000 and all of Wayne County around 10,000 people. WAED will not be increasing their request from the City of Wayne who provides a total of $115,000.

Library Directors from both Wayne and Winside represented the Wayne County Library Association being Heather Headley and Lara Lanphear. Their combined request remained the same being $13,000 as they listed items which their funds go towards and upcoming purchases.

Doug Temme, President of the Wayne County Ag Society then thanked the board for their continued support during the fair. The group is looking to increase their request from $90,000 last year to $200,000 with some funds being a one-time request for the 100th annual fair next summer.

Commissioners awarded Wayne County Ag Society $125,000.

The 2021 Wayne County Fair saw an increase of roughly $34,000 at the gate from the 2019 fair which equaled an additional 1,700 people in attendance as their corporate sponsorships remained the same as in years past. Temme also wanted to thank the entire fair board along with all the volunteers who donated their time and equipment to keep costs down.

Wayne County Ag Society spent between $140,000 – $150,00 on all the evening entertainment and will look to put on an even better show next year as the board is looking to increase their entertainment budget by nearly $50,000. With an increase in use of the Wayne County Expo Center for wedding receptions and graduation parties, a 20×26-foot addition will be constructed for a bathroom with changes being made to the current restroom area. Also, some of the livestock barns will need electrical upgrades.

Among the 2021 preliminary requests, Carroll Fire District #1 will see a decrease in their request by $34,531 with a bond being paid off; Wayne Fire District #2 is looking to increase their general tax request by $2,760 to $90,000; Hoskins Fire District #3 is looking to remain the same at $65,500; Winside Fire District #4 is requesting a $737 increase to $49,885 while Wakefield Fire District #9 will be looking to remain the same as in years past.

After this mornings budget work session, the fire districts and the library association were awarded their requested amounts.

The next regularly scheduled Wayne County Board of Commissioners meeting will be on Tuesday, August 17 at 9 a.m.

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