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Polk County supervisor Jill Altringer updates Johnston council on transparency, cost-savings and new services
Summary
Polk County Supervisor Jill Altringer told the Johnston City Council the county has lowered its property tax levy for the first time in 16 years, overhauled grant and procurement practices, advanced a strategic plan and reported early results from a jail reentry kiosk program that has served 193 people in under a month.
Polk County Supervisor Jill Altringer told the Johnston City Council on Monday that the county has taken multiple steps to increase transparency, reduce costs and expand services since she took office earlier this year.
Altringer, who said she has served “approximately 277 days” since taking office Jan. 2, summarized actions including lowering the county property tax levy for the first time in more than 16 years, instituting requests-for-proposals to replace long-standing contracts and revamping the county grant process and board-staff access to agenda materials.
The supervisor said Polk County has begun a strategic planning process—the first in more than 30 years—that will guide budgeting principles, and she described a move of the election office to a River Place location to improve access and parking. She also said the county decided to co-align with the state medical examiner rather than build a local facility, estimating savings “25 to $37,000,000” up front and “an ongoing million dollars a year.”
Altringer highlighted a kiosk and reentry partnership the county launched Sept. 10 at the jail, run in partnership with Saint Vincent de Paul, that she said has served 193 people in less than a month. She said the county is updating workplace policies, including harassment and workplace violence procedures that had not been refreshed in more than 20 years.
Asked about public access to county meetings and documents, Altringer said the county has improved online streaming and archives, added hyperlinks to agenda items and expanded the board-staff meeting format so residents and department heads can more easily review contracts, resolutions and proposals before votes.
Altringer closed by inviting questions from the council and thanking members for their time.
Why this matters: The supervisor framed the changes as fiscal stewardship and greater public access to county decision-making. Several items she described—lowering the levy, grant and procurement changes, the strategic plan and the election-office move—affect county budgets and resident access to services in communities that include Johnston.
