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Story County environmental health budget reduced after septic grant ends; fee study, software and ordinance work planned
Summary
At a Feb. 5 budget work session, Story County Environmental Health staff said the department’s overall fiscal 2026 budget will fall after the Story County Housing Trust septic grant ended. Staff signaled modest revenue increases from permits and contracts and outlined one-time expenses for archiving, equipment and ordinance updates.
At a Feb. 5 budget work session, Environmental Health Director Kimberly Grandinetti told county supervisors and staff that the department’s overall fiscal 2026 budget will decrease after the Story County Housing Trust septic grant ended, while some permit and contract revenues are expected to rise.
Grandinetti said aquatic and tattoo fee revenue should grow slightly after the department took over a contract with Boone County, and that a broader fee study is underway as the office prepares to change permitting software. “We should see a slight increase in aquatic fees,” she said, and noted a similar uptick for tattoo fees after assuming the Boone contract.
The loss of the Story County Housing Trust grant for septic work is the largest single revenue change: “We are not going to have the Story County Housing Trust grant for the septics,” Grandinetti said, adding that the department will rely more on the OSWAP loan process for some applicants and will refer people to Lucas for individual cases.
Grandinetti outlined several expenditure changes. The Board of Health plans to archive minutes using ArcaSearch; she said the archiving contract will raise costs by about $2,200 for the coming year. She also proposed buying shelves, brochure racks and a field tablet to support new mobile inspection software, and noted a small reduction in vehicle fuels and maintenance now that the department has a year of operating its new vehicle.
Other increases include funds for uniforms and safety gear for field staff, higher legal-notice costs tied to anticipated ordinance updates for septic and well rules, and more postage and lab services driven by increased well-sampling promotions. Grandinetti said the department has been doing more sampling as part of outreach funded in part by a private well grant, which has raised lab-service costs.
Staff also listed administrative details and rounding clarifications for budget lines: DNR permit fees are a straight $25 per permit (the subtotal was listed as $3.75 million but was rounded to $3.80 million on one worksheet entry for consistency), and several small line items were adjusted for simple rounding conventions. Grandinetti described one overtime reestimation related to training held on Juneteenth and said most staff take compensatory time rather than overtime.
On broader policy questions, supervisors asked about state-led public health regionalization. Grandinetti said the county has received limited information so far and that the state postponed any immediate action to allow more prep work; she warned that behavioral health implementation still lacks funding and said Story County staff are concerned about preserving local services if regionalization follows the same administrative structure. “We’re just hoping that we won’t be looked at exactly the same because it’s just a different… we don’t want to lose services at our local level,” she said.
Board and staff next steps include completing the fee study and returning recommendations to the Board of Health in April, beginning ordinance revisions for septic and well rules once state rule changes are finalized (expected by late spring), and implementing one-time purchases tied to the new permitting software.
No formal votes or motions were recorded during the work session.
