Finance committee forwards FY25 millage resolution, reviews quarter-two finances and grant changes

The Ottawa County Finance and Administration Committee voted to forward a resolution establishing millage rates for tax year 2025 to the full Board of Commissioners and received the county’s detailed second-quarter financial statements and a set of FY2025 budget adjustments.

The committee’s action on millage gives the board chair authority to sign the required L-429 form so local units can include the county millage on tax bills. Karen, finance staff, told the committee that equalization has finalized taxable values and that the county is “allowed to keep all the growth in the county,” while the allowable millage rollback is limited by Headley up to CPI.

Why it matters: setting millage rates is the final step in the county’s 2025 budget process and enables local units to print tax bills. Committee discussion also focused on how recent federal and state grant changes affect department budgets and what options the board has to reduce the county’s tax rate in future budget cycles.

Committee members unanimously passed the millage resolution on a roll call. Karen explained in the meeting packet that Ottawa County’s maximum allowable total millage moved from 5.7311 in 2024 to 5.6708 for 2025, and that the county’s adopted operating levy remains at 3.9 mills — below the maximum allowable. Commissioner Tepals asked for confirmation that the resolution does not increase millage; Karen replied, “There’s no increase in millage rates,” and added that taxable values did increase.

The committee also received the detailed second-quarter financial statements for the general fund, mental health fund and a high-level summary of special revenue funds. Karen summarized grant-related highlights: several federal grants had been placed on a watch list earlier in the year, then reinstated; specific figures she cited included roughly $898,000 for public health and $88,000 for CMH (community mental health) among those tracked. She described an $8,000,000 budget adjustment discussed earlier in the meeting that would appear on the agenda and a separate $5,000,000 CCBHC (Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic) grant adjustment that has conditions tied to service delivery.

Committee discussion covered vacancy-driven personnel underspends in the general fund: Karen said vacancy savings are trending at about “halfway through the year” and estimated that savings compared with the prior year might be “maybe a million dollars or a little over a million dollars,” and that staff would continue to monitor those trends.

Several commissioners reported recent advocacy with federal officials about COVID-era grant funding. Commissioner Moss said four commissioners met with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and requested termination of a roughly $900,000 COVID-era grant; Moss said HHS “immediately assured us that they would” terminate it and that the department did so. Commissioner Miedema and others reiterated concern about “wasteful” pandemic-era grants being discontinued and the importance of targeting funds to priority services such as autism supports.

Committee members also raised the idea of considering a future reduction in the county operating millage. Commissioners agreed to add a discussion of potential millage reductions to future budget-planning and strategic-planning work, noting timing constraints for implementation (tax bills print in early July and changes would affect revenues already budgeted for the current fiscal year).

The committee approved a bundle of budget adjustments for FY2025 by roll call. Karen described the adjustments as a mix of revenue and appropriation changes that staff use to align adopted budgets with actual grant awards, project timelines and department needs. She described capital-project adjustments as “life to date” appropriations that are carried over for the project’s duration rather than lapsing at year-end.

Looking ahead: Commissioners asked staff to present more detailed planning items during the budget cycle so the board can weigh mandatory versus discretionary spending, with several members supporting work to identify savings that could support a future millage reduction discussion.

Votes at a glance: The committee recorded roll-call approvals for (a) general claims totaling $22,680,300.83 (summary report 04/01/2025–04/30/2025), (b) receiving the detailed Q2 financial statements, (c) forwarding the millage resolution for tax year 2025, and (d) approving FY2025 budget adjustments per the attached schedule.

Ending: The committee concluded the financial items after a period of questions and directed staff to continue monitoring federal grant activity and vacancy trends and to present follow-up information to support future budget and millage discussions.