Summer state budget cuts target pools, weeds, mosquito control

Pools might not get inspected as often and mosquitoes and weeds might flourish this summer as Indiana communities look to trim their strained budgets.

Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health plans to cut back on mosquito treatments and will not hire a temporary pool inspector. Hancock County has halved funding for weed control along roadsides and in vacant lots.

“There’s not enough money,” said Joe Copeland, Hancock County’s engineer and highway superintendent.

Community officials say some of the cuts are tied to the state’s property tax caps, which take full effect this year.

The Fort Wayne-Allen health department gets no money from income taxes, and property tax caps were expected to reduce the department’s budget by about $195,000 this year. Increases in health insurance and utility costs for a new medical annex and cuts in grant funding have further hurt the department’s budget.

That is forcing the department to stop treating private ponds and waterways to kill mosquito larvae. It also will no longer respond to nuisance complaints about biting mosquitoes, department spokesman John Silcox said. The department is cutting back on its seasonal technicians as well, hiring three instead of the usual seven.

“We have to prioritize and use our resources as best we can,” he said.

The department will still test mosquitoes for West Nile virus and spray a half-mile radius around areas that test positive for the virus.

The department also will use existing staff members to help a full-time pool inspector instead of hiring a temporary inspector.

In Hancock County, commissioners cut about $5,500 from the weed control fund, reflecting a $1.7 million drop in county revenue between 2007 and 2009.

In 2009, the commissioners reduced the allowable height for grass and rank vegetation from 18 inches to 12 inches and expanded the ordinance’s jurisdiction to more properties. The county would cut down weeds and place a tax lien on properties that owners had let become overgrown.

“We won’t have the wherewithal to go in there and cut it for them and put it on the tax rolls,” Commissioner Brad Armstrong said. “It’s a cash-flow problem.”