At Tuesday's meeting, the Wayne County Commissioners had different groups explain what they are doing with their budget money.
Luke Virgil from Wayne Area Economic Development was the first to speak at the meeting. Virgil explained the budget allocation that WAED has received over the last couple of years and brought up a possible increase for it.
Previously, they had received $3,000 in 2006 and then in 2014 it was raised to $8,100 until 2017 where it was increased by only $100. Virgil was asking for it to be increased.
He explained how Wayne County is a large contributor to WAED at about $76,000 and has continued to increase 5% annually to around $93,000 currently.
"Anytime that there is a project developed that comes through our office, it is going to be in Wayne County," Virgil said. "It is going to be contributing to your guys' property tax rolls so it is going to increase your guys' budget for each year. Yes, it does create a little bit more that you need to work with as far as maybe road maintenance depending on where the project is located."
Virgil was hoping to double the amount that they had previously received but was awarded $10,000 instead.
Next, Heather Headley and Lara Lanphear of the Wayne County Library Association explained what they had done with their previous budget allocations.
Headley, the director of the Wayne Public Library, talked about how they went through their patron database and cutdown the ones that had not been for a while.
"I know we went from having a database of almost 5,000 names down to about 3,000 and of those 3,000 about 500 are county users instead of 800," Headley said.
They have also invested in more audiobooks and electronic materials and databases for easier access outside of the library. Due to the pandemic, they increased their budget focus on audiobooks and ebooks on OverDrive.
Lanphear, the director of the Winside Public Library, said they used their budget for their bigger purchases such as the big book orders and periodicals. They also invested in a laminator, their summer reading program and OverDrive.
The Wayne County Library Association was requesting $13,000 and was awarded that amount.
Then Doug Temme and the Wayne County Ag Society Board talked about the improvements that they had made at the fair grounds with their money along, with some more improvements they would like to do such as new bathrooms at the Expo building.
Temme said that there were a large number of people who were from out of the county that attended the fair. They spent around $150,000 on all of the entertainment at the fair. The Wayne Ag Society was awarded $125,000.
Finally, Highway Superintendent Mark Casey answered any questions from the commissioners such as the green wall progress and the removal of a mobile home in a ditch.
The Wayne County Board of Commissioners will next meet in regular session on Tuesday, Aug. 17 at 9 a.m. in the Wayne County Courthouse.
