Musician Ralph Tourkow is fondly remembered as a talented musician who had a jovial sense of humor and a schedule of dinner dates. His family and friends agree that to meet Tourkow was to instantly meet a friend.FORT WAYNE – The Allen County Public Library will spend unexpected revenue on computer improvements, a heating and cooling system upgrade and to pay off debt.
The library will receive $844,000 as part of a state programming error that cost local units of government $206 million in local option income tax revenue in 2011 and early 2012. A total of $15.6 million will go to Allen County taxing units, including the library.
Financial Services Manager David Sedestrom told the library board Thursday the library already received some of the money and will continue to get more each month until the entire refund is paid.
Sedestrom said a computer server “virtualization” project had already been approved, but the money to pay for the project will come from the refund the library will get from the state.
He estimated the upgrade will cost about $400,000 and will make the servers easier to maintain and cheaper to fix.
The Aboite branch also will get an upgrade to its heating, cooling and air-conditioning system. Sedestrom said they’ve received quotes for the project.
“It’s just a matter of are we going to pull the trigger,” he said. “Now this makes it a little easier.”
The remaining money would most likely be saved to pay off the library’s debt service.
“We’re in a pretty good financial position,” Sedestrom said. “The conservative approach would be let’s store it away.”
