Ash borer nibbles at Fort Wayne budget

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - The costs of removing ash trees infested with a tree-killing insect are taking a bite out of Fort Wayne's budget for regular tree-pruning chores.

The Journal Gazette reports that the expense of removing ash trees gutted by the emerald ash borer mean other trees will be pruned every eight or nine years instead of every six years.

Fort Wayne's parks board Thursday approved spending $162,000 to trim 3,000 large street trees and 2,000 small street trees this year. That's far less than the 9,000 trees that normally get trimmed each year along city streets.

Fort Wayne once had 14,000 ash trees along city streets, but the city has had to remove thousands killed by the borer. Crews felled about 3,500 ash trees just last fall.