Allen County approves $113,300 supplemental agreement for Pleasant Township section corner work

Allen County commissioners on March 21 approved Supplemental Agreement No. 1 with DLZ Indiana LLC for additional section corner perpetuation initial assessment services in Pleasant Township, for a new total fee not to exceed $113,300.

The supplemental work covers 17 additional section corners DLZ found while performing field work on the county’s ongoing section corner perpetuation program, said Mike Fruchey, Allen County surveyor. “When they were out in the field doing the work, they found some other corners that they hadn't anticipated finding. So this is in our best interest to have them perpetuate those while they're out there,” Fruchey said.

The vote came as county officials pressed a longer-term budget issue: the county’s section corner perpetuation fund is being spent down and may not sustain current staffing and workload. Fruchey told commissioners the fund had been about $1.7 million when he took office and is now about $700,000; two employees are funded from that account and that staffing consumes roughly $200,000 a year. The county receives roughly $250,000 a year in recording fees that support the fund, he said.

“We only get recording fees of about $250,000 a year, so you can see how financially that fund is gonna spend down and that rubber will meet the road eventually,” Fruchey said. He said he expects to propose in the 2026 budget moving those employee lines and associated benefits into the general fund so the section-corner account is used primarily for field work.

The county auditor, speaking during discussion, said it would be consistent with the intent of the fund to move employee lines into the general fund so that the perpetuation fund can be used for its statutory purpose. “The expenses follow the fund and the employees being paid out of that fund,” the auditor said, adding that historically the positions were in the general fund and were moved in 2013.

Fruchey also noted a state requirement for the survey program: state law requires counties to complete 5 percent of section corners annually. With about 2,400 second-tier section corners, that equals roughly 120 corners a year, he said; Allen County has done about 500 in a little over two years to catch up after a long backlog.

Commissioners moved and seconded approval of the supplemental agreement; the motion carried by voice vote.

The supplemental agreement and the budgetary concerns are likely to return to the board as Fruchey proceeds with the program and as staffing and fund balance projections are finalized.