County roads still will take you home — but a little more slowly than before.
Lyon County commissioners dropped the speed limit to 35 mph on parts of Road S, Road U and Road 200 near Emporia Energy, the peaking plant being built by Westar. The limit currently is 45 mph.
The change will take place sometime next week, after it is legally published.
Commissioners made the change in response to a petition signed by 66 people, which was presented last week. One of the petitioners, Vanda Hall, said recently that traffic and dust on those roads created a dangerous situation.
However, not everyone thought a lower speed was the answer.
“I think if you enforce the limits that are currently in place, that would be sufficient,” said Brett Wilson, a Road 200 resident, at Thursday’s meeting. He also asked if better paving would lead to the speed limit going back up.
“My feeling is it would probably go back to 45,” Commissioner Scott Briggs said.
Budget tweaks
The latest draft of the 2008 Lyon County budget should require a 1.261 mill increase, Bobbie Agler of A&M Consultants told the county commission Thursday. On a $100,000 house, that would be a $14.50 increase, not including any changes in valuation. Commissioners had been considering a 4 mill hike.
Under this draft, overall employee compensation would go up by 2 percent, but that wouldn’t be an across-the-board raise. Instead, individual department heads would be able to allocate the funds as they saw fit.
“Some employees may get 3 percent, some may get 1 percent and some may not get any,” County Chairman Marshall Miller said.
The mill increase assumes a $3.4 million drop in valuation, due to a tax exemption for the new Westar plant. The exemption has not yet been approved.
If the county’s valuation is certified before the Westar exemption happens, the $3.4 million valuation would have to be included then taken out later, forcing the county and other local governments to remove the resulting tax revenues from their budgets.
One other area that needs attention, Agler and the commissioners agreed, is the county’s multiyear capital improvement fund. The fund serves as a piggy bank for equipment purchases, but lately has had more money going out than coming in.
At current rates, Agler said, the fund could continue to meet the county’s needs through 2010 before reaching “a dangerously low level.”
“There’s an end to any pocketbook if you don’t put money back in,” Agler said.
In other action:
• The commission approved a change order allowing an extra inch of asphalt on Road U near the Westar plant. That brings the project total to $1,035,575.
• The bid for remodeling the Lyon County extension office was given to Markowitz Builders at a base bid of $303,000. The offices are not part of the Lyon County Fairgrounds, whose remodeling was placed on hold on Wednesday.
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
ok,now why is agler on both ends of the budget discussion...lyon county and the city??? is that not a conflict of interest?
August 2, 2007 at 4:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )