Commissioner Bruce Symes retained his seat by a hair after provisional votes were tallied at Tuesday’s county commission meeting.
Symes received 353 votes to opponent John Brocker’s 345.
County Clerk Sherrie Riebel was assisted by commissioners Jerry Daniels and Bill King in reviewing the votes for the District 3 seat.
Commissioners also discussed the county’s proposed budget for 2021, and made needed cuts with the help of department heads and assistance from auditor Rodney Burns.
Commissioners also made a few new allowances for funding, such as for the Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department, who requested additional resources for dealing with the threat of COVID-19.
Commissioner King said he had asked those in charge of departments to “hold it just as tight as we could,” given the economic situation.
Commissioner Symes described that situation as “a perfect storm of valuation and COVID.”
The county’s assessed valuation is down around $2 million, from $148,771,236 in 2020 to a projected $146,690,045 in 2021.
Around half of the total drop was brought about by decreases in the values of oil and gas.
Given these numbers, the mill levy is in turn expected to fall from 62.880 in 2020 to 62.701 in 2021, which means a slight decrease in property taxes.
Commissioners have yet to officially approve the new budget, but may do so as early as next week.
THRIVE Allen County has been working on multiple projects in coordination with the county, including developing a proposal for a new county-wide transportation system.
Thrive’s development director Jessica Thompson explained the need for a transportation system, saying “people were missing chemo treatments in Kansas City” that they couldn’t drive to, and “going weeks and weeks without going to the grocery store.”
If the county approves the transportation proposal, in time there will be new vehicles available for helping residents, along with fewer restrictions on who can ride than current programs.
Members of Thrive have also been coordinating a steering committee to help allocate $2.4 million in CARES Act (SPARK) funding that was recently awarded to the county.
The committee was vitally important because any dollar not designated would ultimately need to be returned.
