York County department heads discuss their proposed budgets for next fiscal year

Editor’s note: This is the second installment of three regarding the proposed York County budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year. This past week, the York County Commissioners met with each of the department heads and elected officials to talk about their requests and needs for the upcoming year. This installment includes conversations with the emergency manager, zoning administrator, visitors bureau director and the roads department. 
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​YORK – York/Fillmore County Emergency Manager Jean Engle didn’t have a lot of big budget requests to make but she did let the York County Commissioners know there are communication difficulties between first responders in York County and tower/communication equipment investments will likely have to be made in the future.
“I’ve been going to our emergency meetings in the county and there are concerns about communications between the different fire and rescue departments,” Engle said.
She said there are problems with different entities hearing each other, as well as the issues of higher costs departments are having to pay for the utilization of towers in their districts.
A special meeting will be held on Aug. 20, as the various departments will be meeting to talk about the issues and possible solutions.
“This is one of the main projects we are going to be working on now and in the future, as something needs to be upgraded,” Engle said.
York County Visitors Bureau Director Alex Saathoff provided two proposed budgets – one for the promotional fund and the other for the improvement fund. Receipts from the local 4% lodging tax (which is paid by visitors to York County) are dispersed to the county by the Nebraska Department of Revenue. Those funds are then given to projects and promotions in the county which are intended to further increase tourism in the county. The revenue is split between the two funds.
She said there was a $170,000 carry-over in the promotion fund this year and it is anticipated the fund will receive around $225,000 in revenue in the new fiscal year. There was a $330,000 carry-over in the improvement fund but there are a number of bigger grants which have already been awarded and payouts are still pending upon the YCVB receiving receipts for work that has been performed.
“The budget has a slight salary increase as we now have a part-time intern,” Saathoff said. “And we added a line item for the amount paid for office rent, instead of having it included in the miscellaneous line item.”
When Ashley Rasmussen and Greg Heine met with the county board members to talk about the roads department budget, there was plenty of discussion about purchasing equipment and how to plan for a future which might include the absence of the inheritance fund from which to borrow for such purchases.
Rasmussen acknowledge the proposed budget has increases as operating expenses are up, “parts and labor continue to go up for repairs” and a new copy machine is needed in the office.
She and Heine said there are three maintenance sheds in the county which still don’t have automatic garage door openers and none of the sheds have utilities (although porta-potties exist on site). These remote buildings are used to house graders and equipment for the operators in different areas of the county. Right now, there are no plans for building improvements to be made.
“Recently we found out a grader we intended to trade in won’t be worth much,” Commissioner Daniel Grotz noted.
Commissioner Andy Bowman said he’s been looking at cost savings which could happen if the county bought multiple graders at one time, instead of one a year. He said there would be price cuts, maybe to save the county up to $125,000 each time. Bowman said Fillmore County uses this rotation practice. “And we would save on repairs, have better resale value on our trade-ins. But in looking at this, I’m walking cautiously to make sure we don’t create issues in the future,” he added.
Obermier mentioned “The Fab Five,” in reference to a year (quite a while ago) when the county purchased five motorgraders at one time. “That didn’t turn out great,” Obermier added. “I guess I’d like to see a county’s success story about doing something like that.”
Moving on to different departments, Grotz noted how the budget committee increased the health insurance budget by 15% and they increased the state institutions budget “based on the actual increase in the number of emergency protective care situations we have had.”
Zoning Administrator Nate Heinz met with the board saying he felt there should be a $2,800 salary increase for operations – whether he is the director or not – due to comparisons with other counties. He said Fillmore County is spending $2,000 more than York County, Hamilton County is spending $12,000 more than York County and Seward County is paying $60,000 more in zoning costs than York County.
“I’m asking so this can be a competitive position, regardless of who is in that position, and for York County to keep pace with other counties,” Heinz said. “And there are many issues that have come up recently – solar, pheasant stuff, pipelines, there are a lot of things happening. It would probably be good to keep people interested in taking this position.”
Heinz has not expressed any notification of leaving the position as zoning administrator – the question came up when it was proposed earlier that his position with the county attorney’s office be made full-time. Heinz said if he continues to work in zoning as well, he would do whatever the county board would be comfortable with.
Editor’s note: In the next installment regarding the county’s budget, the focus will be on law enforcement.