In their first meeting with two new commissioners, the Lyon County Commission had a relatively light agenda during their Wednesday study session.
Despite lower gas prices, ridership on LCAT, Lyon County’s mass transportation program, continues to rise, said Ken Barrows of LCAT during the meeting.
“Since gas prices have gone down, ridership has gone up,” Barrows said. “Since 2002, we’ve seen nothing but increase ridership and this month has been extremely heavy. We’re doing some awesome numbers just in the last week or so.”
Barrows and Doug Stueve, of the Lyon County Council on Aging, spoke during the commission meeting regarding the transportation program and the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Authority grant.
Stueve said each year the department is required to provide KDOT and the Federal Transit Authority a grant application to continue transit in Lyon County. The two entities support a majority of the operations for LCAT’s operating and capital budget. The grants run for Fiscal Year 2010 — July 1 2009 to June 30, 2010.
Stueve said in the next year LCAT could see an expansion in rural routes and an expansion of hours.
Gary Post, Lyon County appraiser, asked commissioners for their approval for the appraiser’s department to do postal pre-sort, which would save the department money. Post said last year $4,400 was spent on mailers, not including paper, printing and envelopes.
“That was the postage and didn’t include any staff time,” Post said. “It takes four days to get them folded, stuffed ... and then sorted.”
In his last item of business, Post discussed the appraisal update. He said 45 percent of sales in 2008 sold for more than the county value. Post said residential market models use sales not older than three years in Emporia and four years old and newer in the small towns and in the county. Studies are based on age models.
Post said without Emporia figures, the county saw an inflationary trend of 1.64 percent in housing values. For newer houses, that trend was 2.93 percent. Homes inside Emporia built before 1946 saw a deflationary trend of a negative 1.32 percent while newer homes built after 1945 had a deflationary trend of .69 percent.
Post said this is the first time in Emporia he has posted a minus adjustment.
“That doesn’t mean that every house in Emporia will go down,” Post added.
Agriculture values are set by the Division of Property Valuation in Topeka. The values are based on an eight-year moving average. Lyon County agricultural dry crop land will come in at 11 percent lower and grass land will come in at 6 percent lower on average.
Post said he encourages property owners in Lyon County to look at their estimates.
Chip Woods, Lyon County engineer, discussed: the utility agreement with Coffey County Rural Water District No. 2; the bridge replacement over Coal Creek on Road 130; the low bid of Welborn Sales for wood sign posts for an estimated total of $5,062.72; the estimate of $10,000 from Master’s Mechanic to do an inframe engine overhaul on a 1992 semi-tractor; and reviewed a road closing at Road 160 between Road Y and Road Z for a bridge replacement project.