Rising oil prices and falling state funding are taking a toll on the Kosciusko County Highway Department's budget for road repairs.
Highway Superintendent Dennis Pletcher asked the county commissioners Tuesday to submit a request to the county council for about $570,000 in additional appropriations for road repairs. Pletcher said the county originally appropriated about $800,000 for the repairs.Pletcher told the commissioners state funding for road patching has dropped over the past five years. This year, Pletcher said, state funding is down 6 percent from last year.
As state funding has decreased, Pletcher said, material costs have increased. "Asphalt and patching materials are petroleum products," Pletcher said. "It's not just gasoline prices that have gone up."
Pletcher said that four years ago, road patching material cost the county about $26 per ton. Now, he said, the cost is about $55 per ton. Pletcher said the county's road problems this year have gone beyond potholes. This year, road repairs have cost the county more than $250,000. Pletcher said his department plans to spend about half that amount for patching again in the fall.
The commissioners voted to request the additional money.
Also, Tuesday, area non-profit organizations asked the commissioners to include almost $440,000 of donations in the commissioners' budget for next year. Last year, the commissioners budgeted about $385,000 in support for the non-profits.
The organizations' requests ranged from as low as $500 to more than $120,000. Eight of the nine organizations submitting requests asked for an increase from last year.
Representatives from several organizations told the commissioners decreases in state funding were driving their need for increased county support.
Commissioner Ron Truex said the board will take the requests under consideration when they put together their budget later this summer.
The Kosciusko County commissioners are Brad Jackson, Bob Conley and Truex. Conley was absent from Tuesday's meeting.
