Overlooked $60,000 in fees lands in county pocket with another $20,000 soon to follow

[October 17, 2014]  LINCOLN - The meeting of the Logan County Finance Committee was brief for the month of October. Committee members present for the meeting were Chuck Ruben, David Blankenship, Jan Schumacher, Robert Farmer, Andy Anderson and Rick Aylesworth.

Finance chairman Chuck Ruben presented good news to the committee. Monsanto, who had previously failed to pay Enterprise Zone fees to the county, paid said dues for the last three years. In total, Monsanto owed the county $60,000 in fees that have now been paid. In addition, Ruben said there is a new person to contact at Monsanto to stop this from happening in the future.

“They agreed to give us $20,000 a year for extending the Enterprise Zone to their plant in Farmer City,” said Ruben. “They did not take the property tax break, they just wanted the sales tax break.” Treasurer Vicki Dugan, who was also at the meeting, said she has sent Monsanto a notice to pay for this year as well.

On other matters, Ruben said that the new budget for the next fiscal year will be brought off of display this month. The full board will have to vote on the approving the budget, as well as the tax levies that accompany the budget every year.

After that, Ruben suggested that the Finance Committee approve a spending limit for the chairman of the Airport and Farm Committee. Recently, the board approved a similar limit for the Building and Grounds chairman in the event of emergencies.

“I don’t see why we can’t authorize him to spend a couple thousand dollars like we did for Building and Grounds. The Airport chairman could spend $2,000 on repairs for the airport, to give him that authority,” said Ruben. The committee unanimously approved of the motion.

At the end of the meeting, Ruben reminded everyone that the next Finance Committee meeting next month has been moved to November 10th due to Veteran’s Day on the 11th.

[Derek Hurley]