Allen County voters chose a new commissioner and narrowly rejected a half-cent sales tax to fund EMS services.
Those were among just a few choices local voters had in Tuesday’s election. Nearly 63% of the county’s 8,383 registered voters turned out for the election. Of those voters, 2,153 cast an advance ballot.
John Brocker, a Republican, defeated Independent Jon Wells for Commission Dist. 3. Brocker won with a vote of 926, or 56%, compared to 717 votes for Wells.
Brocker will return to the seat he briefly held in 2018, when he was appointed to fill a vacancy. He subsequently lost that seat in a primary election to Bruce Symes, and fell to Symes again in 2020. Symes chose not to run for a third term.
Brocker thanks his supporters and those who helped with his campaign. He went door-to-door in his district and said those he spoke to are concerned about spending and financial matters.
“We need to look at where our spending is going and what we can do to be a little more conservative with our money because people are hurting,” he said. “We need to analyze everything we’ve been doing to see where we can improve.”
He also plans to talk to leaders in other counties to learn how they address and fund similar issues.
Wells, a college history and political science instructor who currently serves on the Iola City Council, offered his congratulations to Brocker. He also thanked his supporters.
“It’s not the results we hoped for but I look forward to continuing to serve on the city council and working with John and the county,” Wells said. “I hope they explore and discuss some of my ideas, particularly changing the meeting time.”
Brocker said he would consider changing the meetings from Tuesday mornings to an evening when more of the public could attend. One of his goals is to improve transparency and communication, he said.
THOUGH VOTERS defeated the sales tax question by 52% (2,870 votes against the tax increase with 2,613 in support), don’t be surprised if the issue returns at some point, Commission Chair David Lee said.
“I think it’s worth bringing up again,” Lee said. “The alternative is property taxes are going to go up” if the budget is expanded.
The additional sales tax would have been used to go toward EMS services in exchange for lowering property taxes by some amount.
In May 2023, county commissioners agreed to renew a five-year contract with the City of Iola with an annual cost increase based on the consumer price index.
The cost of services increased to $1.945 million for 2024, up from $1.691 million. Next year, costs will be $2.2 million.
