There was continued discussion during the Feb. 20 Jones County Supervisors meeting, as the board worked through the FY 2025 county budget.
Following the previous board meeting, County Auditor Whitney Hein removed a few outside agency funding requests, per the board’s recommendation. Those included Riverview Center, Jones Soil & Water Conservation District, and Grade Level Reading. Those funding requests reduced the budget by $8,000.
Other items removed from the budget include:
• JETS, a reduction in part-time hours reduced expenses by $72,723
• IT, removed $40,000 from the budget due to ARPA funding
• GIS, removed $24,500 from the budget due to ARPA funding
• Auditor, a reduction in staffing reduced expenses by $28,000
• Sheriff, not replacing open deputy and jailer positions to save funds; Dispatch moved under Emergency Management (EMA)
• General Assistance, eliminated a full-time position, but re-hiring part-time, reducing expenses by $8,500
Supervisor Jeff Swisher shared with the board that the City of Anamosa has no plans to fund the Safe and Health Youth Coalition this coming fiscal year.
“Are we left holding the bag?” he asked of fully funding some of the outside agencies and non-profits.
“We need to fund them by the amount that we can,” offered Supervisor Joe Oswald. “We only have so much money ourselves.”
“But will they survive?” Swisher further asked, if no one funded these groups.
“That’s up to the organizations, what they can do with the funding they get,” added Hein.
“I wonder what else the cities are cutting to fund their budgets?” said Supervisor Jon Zirkelbach.
The board asked Hein about funding county libraries. Per state code, county support for libraries has to come at a minimum of $.0675 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. For FY25, the county is proposing a total of $125,599 for eight public libraries, including Cascade. The Cascade library will also get an additional $25,000 for capital improvements toward their new library.
Swisher suggested reducing the funding for each outside agency request across the board, as well as each county department.
“The hurt needs to go everywhere versus just certain places so everyone is hurt by this new legislation,” he said.
Zirkelbach was against cutting HACAP, Senior Dining, and Solid Waste (landfill).
“The county is on the hook for Senior Dining’s shortfalls,” noted Hein. “Unless you want to reduce the hours or days.”
“If we make changes to Senior Dining,” added Swisher, “we’re cutting services or meals or staff.”
Supervisor John Schlarmann said the county could pull back from funding the Jones County and Wyoming fairs.
“They have reserves to make up for that,” he said.
No decisions were made on outside funding requests.
In terms of the county’s ARPA funds, which have to be designated by Dec. 30, 2024, $2.2 million remains of the $4 million allocated to Jones County.
“You have to commit it by the end of the year,” warned Hein.
The board also discussed salaries for non-union employees.
The Compensation Board recommended 7 percent for elected officials. The board asked Hein to show the comparisons between 5 and 3.5 percent for all non-union, non-elected employees.
“No decision has to be made today,” she told the board. “We still have to cut the budget based on where it is now.”
Hein said the goal is to hold the first FY25 public hearing on March 5.
In presenting the levy rates to the public, the FY24 rates were at $4.15 in General Basic (GB), $2.005 in General Supplemental (GS), and $3.146 in Rural Basic (RB), all per $1,000 in valuation. For FY25, those rates have to be at $4.06 in GB, $3.08 in RB, and GS can be flexible. Not only does HF 718 dictate the levy rates, but Hein said she has to follow a mathematical formula that also impacts the GB and RB rates.
Swisher urged all county employees and officials to visit Des Moines on March 13 for “County Day at the Capitol” to make their frustrations heard regarding HF 718.
“It’s a problem,” he said. “We need to send a clear message to the state.”