Looking ahead. That’s what John Brocker has been doing since he won the open Allen County commissioner District 3 seat Nov. 5. Brocker said his main goal is to cut taxes and control county spending.
“We’re not going to get people to move here if they feel taxes are too high. The biggest complaint out there is property tax for real estate,” said Brocker, a real estate agent. “We’ve got to look at every department and be a little more fiscally responsible as far as our spending goes.”
Brocker says he will look for ways the county could cut back. “Not meaning cutting back in the sense of hurting anybody, but in the sense of being responsible with the people’s money.”
On the matter of the recently proposed half cent EMS sales tax that failed to pass last November, Brocker believes there was a lot of confusion surrounding it. “I just don’t know that it was promoted properly the first time. I’m not saying it was wrong, but I had a lot of people ask me about it after they voted and say they would’ve changed their vote if they had understood what was totally going on.”
The proposed sales tax aimed to generate approximately $1.2 million for Allen County emergency medical services, while simultaneously drawing down property taxes.
If approved, the tax would have raised the county sales tax rate from 1.25% to 1.75%. When added to the state’s 6.5% sales tax and Iola’s 1% sales tax, residents of Iola would have seen their total sales tax rate increase from 8.75% to 9.25%.
Brocker says he believes the confusion stemmed from the language used in the promotion of the proposed tax. “It said ‘maybe’ it would reduce your property tax,” he explained. “It was meant to say it ‘will’ reduce your property tax.”
He believes the commission may give the sales tax hike another try. “I think we’re going to look at a couple different avenues.”
One of the areas he would like to examine more closely is the airport. In particular, the hangars that have recently been purchased.
“My question was how much are we going to collect in rent on them and how long is it going to take to pay back what we are spending? They didn’t know,” said Brocker. “We need to do some of that research before we spend money because we should know what the return on the investment is going to be. I know it could draw some more planes to our airport and maybe sell some more gas, but I don’t know that it’s going to bring more people to live in Allen County.”
Rental fees have not been established for the newest hangar. The fees for the current hangars range from $75 to $250 a month, depending on when they were first rented.
AS FAR AS the landfill goes, Brocker wants to make sure they aren’t missing out on an opportunity to save money. “You’d have to look at what we’re taking in and compare it to other counties,” he said.
In 2012, county commissioners approved construction of two additional 10-acre cells in the landfill within the next 15 to 20 years. One was constructed in 2014 at a cost of roughly $1.5 million. It is nearly full.
The newest cell, currently under construction, is expected to last between 8-10 years. This is a notably shorter span than for previous cells. This is due to an increase in trash.
Around a dozen neighboring counties use Allen County’s landfill.
