Cumulative bridge fund restored by commisioners

A move that brought about $800,000 to the Putnam County General Fund was reversed this week.

Following a public hearing on the matter during which no one from the public spoke, the Putnam County Commissioners chose unanimously to re-establish the Cumulative Bridge Fund.

Although the move technically reinstates a tax that was not in effect during 2017, the move has no effect on the overall tax bill of county residents.

Instead, re-establishing Cumulative Bridge simply moves money from one pot, County General, to another, Cumulative Bridge.

The Putnam County Commissioners and Putnam County Council had made the move as a way of helping the struggling General Fund with money from Cumulative Bridge, which had plenty of funds at the time.

Auditor Lorie Hallett reminded the commissioners that the move is subject to approval by the Department of Local Government Finance.

The fund wasn’t the only thing on the agenda affecting the Putnam County Highway Department.

County Highway Supervisor Mike Ricketts reminded the commissioners that the leases re-up on the county’s three road graders in September.

He presented lease proposals from Caterpillar and John Deere.

Ricketts said they have gone with Cat before, but the company is no longer wanting to do municipal leases.

John Deere, on the other hand, still does and offers a less-expensive product.

“We’re thinking about switching,” Ricketts said.

The Cat graders come at a total cost of $289,000, while the John Deere graders are $276,000.

Broken down, the three-year lease on each John Deere machine would be at an annual cost of $24,206.15

Ricketts said the county has done five-year leases in the past. While going with a three-year lease increases the annual cost, it should help the county avoid certain repair and replacement costs, such as tires.

The commissioners approved a notice to proceed on a three-year lease with West Side Tractor Sales out of Terre Haute.

By signing the agreement now, the machines can be ready by September.

Ricketts also presented the road plan for 2018.

During the year, the department plans to do 15 miles of hot mix asphalt, 4.55 miles of double-grind chip-and-seal and 53 miles of chip-and-seal.

That’s a total of 72.55 miles at a cost of $2.3 million.

Ricketts said this keeps the county on track for its seven-year plan to resurface all paved roads in the county.

Additionally, he said preliminary work on many of these roads is already done, if only spring would finally arrive.

“As soon as the weather breaks, Ricketts said. “We’ve got a lot of pipes in on those roads already.”