FORT WAYNE, IN (Indiana's NewsCenter) --- Fort Wayne officials say they were caught off guard by a letter from the Allen County Commissioners setting a January first deadline for the transfer of bridge maintenance responsibilities to the various cities and towns in the county.

It’s sparking a new sense of urgency on this issue.

Members of a bridge task force had been meeting for months, after county leaders sought a helping hand to pay for bridge repairs.

The talk moved to action when the county commissioners fired off a letter Tuesday to the cities and towns, saying it is no longer feasible for the commissioners to accept the sole responsibility.

The letter urges the individual communities to look within their own budgets to try and fund bridge repairs.

Nelson Peters/(R) Allen County Commissioner: " We're at a point right now where, you know, it's game time, we're down to two minutes, we need to figure out how to do this, so we can continue to maintain bridges the way that we have in the past."

Rebecca Karcher/City of Fort Wayne: " We’re trying to get a handle on what the maintenance costs will be on those bridges and uh, how many staff folks we may need to look at. We don't have anybody assigned right now to bridge engineering for instance. So, we’re just trying to look at the big picture of what all of this is going to mean."

This is very likely a first step in getting the cities and towns to request a wheel tax/surtax increase to pay for the repairs, with the county likely overseeing the work.

Another meeting over this issue is on the horizon.

Look for representatives of all the government entities to meet between May 12th and May 15th to further hash out where we go from here.