Lyon County’s plan for distributing CARES act allocations throughout the local community is now in the hands of state officials.
Lyon County Commissioners made the announcement following an executive session during their weekly meeting Thursday morning. The plan details how the county has decided to divvy up the over $7.6 million in funds it received through the Federal CARES Act earlier this year.
The funds will be disbursed amongst 11 separate organizations and institutions within the county for COVID-19 relief. Commission Chairman Rollie Martin wished to emphasize that the document is strictly a planning document with final approval still yet to be given by the state.
Commissioners also certified the 2021 fiscal year budget Thursday. The budget totals just over $31 million with a reduced mill levy of 4.1 mills. As KVOE has reported in recent weeks, the major contributions to the mill decrease was due in part to a rise in property valuations, additional income from the Reading Wind Farm and a shift in payment plans for the county’s portion of the city/county emergency radio project.
Commissioner Dan Slater stated “this is a good budget,” however, he says he will be keeping his fingers crossed in the coming year due to the overwhelming uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Martin stated the county essentially passed two budgets Thursday, the main budget and the sales tax budget which provides funding for capital outlay expenditures. Martin says in order to support that budget the county will need to bring in a monthly revenue of roughly $215,000. However; Martin says over the past seven months the county has averaged a monthly revenue of just over $230,000 giving the commission a great deal of confidence heading into the next fiscal year.
In other business, commissioners received an update on the recent Lyon County Housing Study conducted by RDG Planning and Design from Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jeanine McKenna and Ignite Emporia Director Rob Gilligan. Approval was also given for the purchase of a new AC Unit for the bus barn proposed by County Facilities Director Mark McKenna.
The Lyon County Commission will reconvene for its weekly action session next Thursday at 9 am.
