Funding for the Bowlus Fine Arts Center will be cut by nearly $50,000 next year under a series of budget cuts Allen County commissioners considered at their meeting Tuesday evening.
The change would replace how the county funds the Bowlus. For years, the county has allocated 1 mill through county property taxes toward the Center.
The one-mill allocation, which fluctuates according to property valuations, generated about $199,000 this year and is projected to provide about $207,000 next year.
If approved, the county would give the fine arts center a flat annual contribution of $150,000.
Chairman David Lee acknowledged changing the funding formula would likely be unpopular. “I know it’s going to be very controversial,” Lee said. “But I think we need to shift some of these dollars.”
Commissioner Jerry Daniels said he favored the change.
“If you set it at $199,000 forever, whether the mill goes up or down, it’s steady,” he said.
Daniels, who lives in Humboldt, deferred from suggesting a set amount for the Bowlus, saying he’d leave that to Lee and Commissioner John Brocker, whose districts include the Bowlus.
“It’s nothing against the Bowlus. We all appreciate the Bowlus,” he said.
Lee then proposed cutting the Center’s funding even further.
“I’m not opposed to dropping it to $150,000 or even $125,000. Let them come back to us in a year’s time and have them say we can’t make it or we’re at the right place,” he said.
Commissioners unanimously approved rescinding the previous one-mill funding method and replacing it with a flat annual appropriation of $150,000.
Accountant Rodney Burns, Chanute, said the county needs to reduce its 2027 budget by about $1.3 million.
The commission’s largest reduction was to the Road and Bridge Department, where commissioners cut $600,000 from Director Jeremy Hopkins’ initial request of $5,988,063, a 20 percent increase over last year’s.
Hopkins had said his proposed budget centered on future equipment needed for the quarry, including a rock crusher shared by multiple departments.
Commissioners also reduced the elections budget increase from $96,000 to $65,000 despite County Clerk Shannon Patterson warning that upcoming statewide voter registration software requirements will likely continue driving costs higher over the next several years.
