Dearborn County’s engineer asked the council to transfer funds on Wednesday so the highway department can preserve its planned paving cycle after state Community Crossings funding was reduced.

Dodd Listerman, county engineer, said the state’s Community Crossings program returned to a $1 million maximum award per community (down from $1.5 million) and that the county’s required local match for the program will be 20 percent. For a $1 million award the county’s 20 percent match is $250,000, he said.

Listerman asked the council to move money already budgeted for Community Crossings so he could encumber and let paving contracts this year for work that will be performed next year. He told the council the transfer would allow the county to bid and let contracts now and maintain a roughly $3 million paving program rather than return to a smaller program that would increase the county’s paving cycle to about 12 years.

Listerman said some funds in the Community Crossings account are carryover and that one contract already let would spend several hundred thousand dollars in the coming month. He asked the council to transfer roughly $250,000 to hold the match for this year’s application and move the remainder into the bituminous paving account for next year’s projects.

Council members asked whether the projects could be let this year and whether funds would roll back to the general fund if not expended; Listerman said he planned to let contracts before year‑end and that unused funds would revert to county general if projects were not encumbered.

The council approved the transfer by voice vote.

Why it matters: the transfer preserves an active paving program and allows the county engineer to bid and encumber work on a schedule Listerman said is necessary to maintain current pavement‑management goals. Listerman warned the reduced Community Crossings pot will make the program more competitive at the state level.

What to watch: Listerman said applications will be more competitive in future Community Crossings cycles and emphasized selecting projects that present the best chance of statewide funding.