Shift in road $ mulled

The county highway department is facing major deficits in its road-paving budget for 2010.

Highway superintendent Ken Wellman asked the Jay County Commissioners Monday to move around money in his department's budget to cover an anticipated $300,000 shortfall in his budget.

Wellman asked that money usually allotted for road paving and magnesium chloride, which is used for dust control, be instead put into bituminous, which is used to chip and seal roadways, for 2010.

Material costs have risen and highway revenue has remained about the same. Wellman said this morning that a department surplus helped to absorb some of the additional cost in the recent past, but that now that buffer has been eroded.

"We have to start balancing the budget and not spending more than we take in," he said. "The price keeps escalating and the revenue has remained basically the same."

Wellman said that stone costs have gradually risen and that the bituminous, which is used to make the road sealant, has gone from 40 cents per gallon to $1.70 per gallon in the last six years.

Wellman also asked to have his 2009 road paving budget be moved into bituminous to cover a shortfall in this year's budget.

The highway department has a four-year maintenance program in place in which a quarter of those roads - about 80 miles per year - are sealed each year. Wellman said there could be cuts in services in the future if the highway budget is not subsidized by the county's infrastructure fund.

"We're going to have to cross that bridge when we get there," he said. "We'd like to keep the chip and seal program going at 100 percent. It's a matter of whether the infrastructure money will be there or not."

In other business Monday, the commissioners:

•Heard an update from community developer Ami Huffman on grants being worked on by Jay County Community Development.

•Were asked by John Jay Center for Learning director Rob Weaver for $25,000 in 2010. That amount is the same annual donation asked for and received by JJCL in this year's budget.

•Were informed by courthouse superintendent Roger McBride that the Portland Historic Preservation Commission told him that putting window tinting on the windows of the Meridian Street Annex, which houses the Purdue Cooperative Extension office, would not be appropriate.

The commission suggested blinds or curtains for the large windows in the building, which would be more costly. The commissioners told McBride to get some samples of the window tinting and they would speak with the commission.

•Made Jay County Emergency Management Agency director Ralph Frazee purchasing agent for up to $1,200 to purchase a portable generator.

Frazee also told the commissioners that he is looking for a truck capable of pulling the emergency management trailer. Frazee has $15,000 in his budget and will begin pricing vehicles.

•Approved a new line item in the Jay County Assessor's budget to pay additional salary for a department employee who recently received a Level 2 certification.[[In-content Ad]]