Budget requests heard at meeting

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June 19, 2013 - 12:00 AM

Elyssa Jackson, museum curator and executive director of the Allen County Historical Society, asked Allen County commissioners to increase the society’s support in the 2014 budget from $24,500 to $26,500.
“One of the most important things about an increase in funding for the historical society is that Allen County taxpayers will be able to see their tax monies spent locally and will be able to reap the benefits directly from what the society provides,” Jackson said.
“This will include more school programming for kindergarten through 12th graders in each Allen County school district, as well as home-schooled children,” she said. The society will “continue public educational events such as our well-received ‘Show and Tell,’ and more interactive museum exhibits that encourage learning through touch.”
Jackson pointed out “the Allen County Historical Society has grown from one room in the courthouse into a five-building complex and has over 500 members in 35 states and three foreign countries, 30 volunteers and hundreds of thousands of objects catalogued from the history and people of Allen County.”

DISTRICT JUDGE Dan Creitz and Dina Morrison, clerk of the court, proposed the county provide $311,213 in county support for local courts, $3,400 more than this year, but $22,615 less than in 2011.
The lion’s share of county support goes to indigent defense services, including $230,000 for attorneys’ fees in the 2014 budget.
The state pays salaries of judges and support staff.
John Green, Southeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging director, asked for $2,000, the same as this year’s support.
Practically all of the agency’s budget is funded by the state. Green said last year the agency provided services to Allen County valued at $266,324, through care and management of services under the Older Americans Act, Nutrition Program, Senior Care, home and community based services and help with Medicare and insurance counseling.
Commissioners said they would consider each request.
County Clerk Sherrie Riebel noted that the county’s assessed valuation for next year is $96,988,697, an increase of $983,984 from this year.

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