Can board hold the line?

Always among the priorities of the Lyon County Board is the upcoming budget and impending levy — or in other words, can they hold down costs for the coming year? The board’s expectations for the 2020 county budget and levy got their first official hearing Tuesday.

They are required to set a preliminary levy in September, which can be reduced but not increased after it’s certified in September.

“We’ll be getting together in the next week or so to develop our expectations for the budget for the next year,” said County Administrator Loren Stomberg.

“It’s difficult to say where we are at right now. We’ve only had preliminary talks,” Stomberg added.

“I don’t see any big surprises,” he said.

Most of the changes are, “More capital related and we’ll have to see how to fund that,” said the county administrator. He indicated requests from the various facets of the county budget are just beginning to come in.

“I just want you to look at the expectations,” he said.

They discussed the law enforcement budget with Commissioner Steve Ritter reminding the board some of the expenses will be shared with the City of Marshall.

“I don’t think we want to start at zero (no increase) because you can’t work up. I think we want to set it higher and work down,” said Commission Chairman Gary Crowley.

The board will continue further discussions at upcoming meetings.

More development at Twin Lakes Park

Development of Twin Lakes Park near Florence has been underway for several years and after positive action by the Lyon County Board Tuesday, Phase II will become a realty. The county has been building a boating, campsite recreation area on the Twin Lakes. This phase does not include trail development. That’s expected to come later. The county asked for bids to provide utilities, parking areas, shelters and signage and received two bids that included a huge difference between the two.

Towne and Country Excavating of Garvin bid $170,303.15. That was less than half the bid from A&C Excavating of Marshall, which was well over $350,000.

Lyon County Environmental Administrator Roger Schroeder met with both contractors to make sure they understood the scope of the project. Schroeder said he expects to talk with Towne and Country Excavating to determine a timeline for the park development.

The board expects the project to be done by September 1.