Allen County Engineer Brian Rhodes delivers his report to the county commissioners meeting Wednesday.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA — Allen County Engineer Brian Rhodes said the cooperation between the county and townships helped save money for residents as the fiscal year turns over.
Rhodes delivered his report to the county commissioners in a meeting Wednesday and shared a total budget for road programs that showed a 5 percent decrease in spending to be expected over 2024.
“The 12 townships help us, and we help them, by pooling our work together each and every year,” he said. “We have a larger quantity to go out to bid, so whether it’s our asphalt or liquid for our chip-sealing process, by pooling that together we can get much better bids and savings for the citizens of Allen County in general.”
County commissioner Beth Seibert added, “The road program happens because of the work of the trustees and the engineer. We thank you for that effort to work together for the citizens of Allen County.”
The county spent $2,353,155 on road programs last year and is set to spend an estimated $2,242,765 this year, with almost $1.4 million going to township projects and $833,588 going across the county.
The east section of the county program will be funded to the tune of $392,874. The west section will be at $387,761, and the fairground will be funded at $52,952.
Amanda Township’s program will receive $100,174, American’s will receive $111,397, Auglaize’s will receive $114,272, Bath’s will receive $92,743, Jackson’s will receive $192,324, Marion’s will receive $186,365, Monroe’s will receive $145,943, Perry’s will receive $141,339, Richland’s will receive $87,129, Shawnee’s will receive $138,402, Spencer’s will receive $31,556 and Sugar Creek’s will receive $51,348.
Beaverdam will get $16,176 toward the village road program.
“We still have bridge work that isn’t listed in that number,” Rhodes said. “But the road program of the joint venture between the townships and the county is that $2.2 million.”
In Rhodes’ report, he noted that, due to inflation, the county was able to get long-needed increases in limits for the cost of work per mile.
“The township roadway limit was increased to $35,000, while county roadway and bridge limits were increased to $70,000 and $233,000, respectively,” according to the report. “Furthermore, these new limits were also indexed by a factor determined by ODOT, which is capped at 5% annually. This index is crucial and will help our limits keep up with inflation, so this issue shouldn’t need addressed again for a long time.”
The report lists all expenditures for 2023 at almost $9.5 million with road and bridge materials and contracts accounting for 37 percent of that number.
For more information, visit the Allen County Engineer at allencountyohengineer.com.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
