Budget talks continue between Lancaster county board, county engineering over funding for bridges

On Tuesday morning, an emergency meeting was held to discuss the Lancaster county budget for bridges and roads.

Last week, Lancaster county engineer Pam Dingman requested an $8 million increase in her department’s budget to help rebuild the infrastructure damaged by flooding.

Judy Zabel has attended every one of the county board meetings thus far.

She previously farmed for 40 years in nearby Saline county.

She says she’s concerned that rural citizens are being put in harms way.

“I’m concerned that if bridges are not safe for the farmers to go over with their tractors, and hauling their grain or cattle or whatever, then they’re not safe and someone is going to get hurt,” said Zabel.

Dennis Meyer is the county budget and fiscal director.

He said that the county needs to invest funding into bridges and roads at some point, so why not start now?

“Maybe we need to not wait as long because we are always then behind the 8–ball as we are trying to move forward,” said Meyer.

Dingman says there is an urgency to get a budget agreed upon sooner than later.

Until then, she does not have funds available to order new materials.

“We are doing emergency inspections of those bridges today from the rain last weekend and I remain really concerned about those bridges. If we were hit right now with an event like Kearney was hit with two weeks ago, we do not have the materials to stabilize the roads,” said Dingman.

The Lancaster county board of commissioners is one of many across the state making these difficult decisions.

They agreed to raise the budget by $3 million, which is a record increase from one year to the next.

But Dingman says it’s not enough, which means at least a dozen bridges and a few road repair projects will remain closed or on hold for the time being.

“We are losing the resiliency of our system. Our farm to market routes, our school routes, it is becoming increasingly cumbersome for the rural community to do what they need to do to live in Lancaster county around these closed bridges,” said Dingman.

The Lancaster county board of commissioners will meet on Thursday, July 25th to vote on the proposed budget framework discussed Tuesday morning.