As COVID-19 has caused financial heartache for many Americans over the past few months, the Marion County Road Department has found ways to save money by making quick decisions at the beginning of the pandemic. According to Marion County Engineer Tyler Christian, in late March his department was aware of the decreases in traffic counts throughout the county, as more people stayed home to social distance. Christian says traffic counts are an indicator of how much fuel is being purchased, and he says 64% of the road department’s budget is made up of road use tax. Christian tells KNIA/KRLS News once the department knew revenue could be down they began saving money and allocating resources. He says at the end of March the department had saved $425,000 from what they expected to spend in the current fiscal year that ends June 30th. Christian says in total the department has already saved over $600,000 

Christian says the department should see the impact of lower revenues in late summer at which time the saved money can be utilized to make up the difference and continue work in fiscal year 2021.