Perhaps the biggest news for Crawford County over the past year is the local government’s financial solvency for the first time in many years. As a result of an additional half-cent sales tax approved by voters last April, the county is finally out of the red and projects to be well into the black by the end of Fiscal Year 2019.
The Crawford County Cattlemen made a donation to the Franklin County Honor Flight program, which covers several counties in Missouri including Crawford. This organization makes it possible for our veterans to tour war memorials in Washington D.C. and see the changing of the guard at Arlington Cemetery at no cost to the veteran.
The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission has awarded a contract to repair a slide at an interchange along Interstate 44 in Crawford County.
Crawford County voters will not be asked to approve an additional half-cent sales tax for law enforcement on the April ballot. Following the county budget preparation completed at the end of January, Sheriff Darin Layman came to commissioners at their February 5 meeting to request that the Proposition P question be removed from the April 2 ballot, and the commission agreed to his request.
The Crawford County Senior Citizens’ Services Fund Tax Board met on Monday, February 11 to disburse funds to three entities serving those over age 60 in the county. The board decided last month to make this year’s disbursement of funds in two payments, instead of one lump sum as has been past practice. Once award amounts were determined, the entities were cut a check for 50 percent of that amount, and they will come back to the board in August to show how those funds have been spent before receiving the remainder of their funding.