Montgomery County Council members heard a lot of information about county finances Tuesday at their monthly meeting. They heard from county auditor Mindy Byers and highway director Jake Lough who each gave financial reports along with a report on employee compensation from county administrator Tom Klein.
Lough’s report explained what the county would need to spend to keep improving roads and he also explained the history of how state legislators have decreased the amount of state money received by all counties.
“To get everything financed properly, we would need $2.1 million in additional funding for the highway department,” Lough said.
The sobering information was accepted by the council as they realize property taxes are already high. Councilman Stevey Loys said the challenge for the council is to find a solution.
“I thank you Jake for educating us on the challenges of highway funding,” Loy said. “It think we need to work toward a solution to this (funding) problem.”
Lough explained problems arose after the state changed the way it allocates funds for local streets and roads. Since 2016 funds have decreased even though the state has increased the state gas tax, special fuel tax and motor carrier surtax in 2017. The increased revenue has stayed in the Indiana Department of Transportation pocket and has not been passed down to local governments.
In 2017, the states Motor Vehicle Highway distributions for local road and streets have gone from a high of 47% in 2017 to 38% in 2023.
Lough said every county, city and town has been affected by the legislation changes and all entities are finding it difficult to do the necessary work on roads and streets. However, the state funding for roads increased from 2017 to 2022 by 133%.
Counties with less than 50,000 population receive funds calculated on 20% of population and 80% based on miles. Montgomery County has approximately 800 miles of roadways.
Lough also described the cost benefits of using chip seal, cold mix and hot mix asphalt.
To obtain the projected needed funding to maintain and improve current roads, Lough included the cost of machinery replacement and employee compensation thereby adding up to the $2.1 million figure of additional funds he said his department would ideally need.
Lough said he understood the council has a tough job of finding funds to do everything a county does and that each departments is important.
“I am not saying you should take money from other departments to fund the highway,” Lough said. “Every department in the county is important. I would hate to be in your seats because your job is not easy.”
Byers presented the first quarter financial report for the entire county. She said, as of the end of March, the county is “on target” with income and expenses.
Klein asked for clarification on how the council wants to proceed in studying employee compensation. The council asked Klein to gather more information to help them decide if they should hire a professional firm to do the study or if they could devise a plan to do the study internally.
