By Aubreanna Miller
For the Herald
Several budget-related items took up the majority of Tuesday morning's meeting of the Wayne County Commissioners.
Heather Headley and Lara Lanphear, representatives from the Wayne County Library Association, requested $13,000 for their 2023-24 budget. This amount, the same as the previous year, passed unanimously.
Sheriff Jason Dwinell presented the board with the Distress Warrant Report from the last year. Out of the 30 distress warrants, 19 have been collected with 11 outstanding.
Some of the 11 come from almost 10 years ago. Teri Lamplot, deputy county attorney, and Lisa Lindsay, county treasurer, plan to work on possibly striking delinquent properties after two years if the cost of collecting surpasses the worth of the property.
Three of the 11 are businesses, no longer in operation, and the remaining eight include mobile homes.
Following this, the Commissioners decided to postpone advertising for the open position of Clerk of District Court until a later date. This comes after Deb Allemann-Dannelly announced her retirement for Sept. 8.
County Treasurer Lindsay introduced Walker Zolkowsky, a Nebraska Public Agency Investment Trust (NPAIT) representative who offered general investment information for the board's consideration.
Zolkowsky said NPAIT stemmed from the National Association of Counties (NACO) and the two organizations still meet at times.
As of the end of June, the County of Wayne has around $14 million in investments, $1 million of that invested into NPAIT already.
Lindsay said the county should prioritize investing locally, but should also take advantage of opportunities to grow the county's wealth, something the state has recently pushed.
Because the county's budget operations follow the fiscal instead of calendar year, the board voted 2-1, Dean Burbach on the dissent, to change pay raises and vacation cycles from the calendar to the fiscal year.
A $1,500 pay raise for the 2023-24 year also passed.
Mark Casey presented four bids for culverts. B's Enterprises, Inc., at $97,807.80 had the low bid and estimated deliveries in November and December. This price is pending approval.
The 2023-24 Budget Work Session for Wayne County will be held on Aug. 10 at 9 a.m. in the old Commissioner's room in the Courthouse.
Commissioners hope to have evaluations during their next few meetings and finalize the budget by early September.
The next meeting of the Wayne County Commissioners will take place on Aug. 15 at 9 a.m.
