Iowa County supervisors approve budget after discussion of levy, supplemental balance

The Iowa County Board of Supervisors voted to approve the county—udget as presented after a series of discussions about supplemental fund balances and property tax impacts.

The board discussed moving some dollars between the general and rural funds and lowering the planned supplemental ending fund balance to reduce the proposed property tax increase. Supervisors and staff referenced several internal calculations during the discussion, including a bottom-line figure the county software showed as $10.484 million in property tax levy, which a supervisor said equated to roughly a 5.7 percent increase. Board members said their goal was to keep the levy increase under 6 percent.

County staff explained options for lowering the levy by reducing the supplemental fund balance (the board discussed lowering the supplemental ending balance to about 18 percent of expenditures, which a supervisor estimated would reduce the levy increase to about 4.7 percent). Supervisors noted the supplemental fund covers fixed costs such as insurance and some salaries, and removing too much from that balance would reduce the county—ushion for expected transfers and recurring obligations.

Board members also discussed timing of transfers and how much of the supplemental balance is effectively earmarked (one supervisor estimated $328,000 of a needed transfer and calculated 307,000 would be sufficient to cover a quarter of transfers if the board wanted to target an 18 percent balance). Supervisors debated whether to have counties directly pay certain expenses (transportation, attorney fees, commitment costs) and then seek reimbursement from the incoming state administrative services organization (ASO) for behavioral health services, or to have providers bill the ASO directly.

The board set the proposed tax-levy public hearing for March 26 at 1 p.m., and staff said the Department of Management—iling deadline required county entry of levy data by 4 p.m. on the deadline day so the state could generate notices for proposed tax levy mailings.

After the discussion, a supervisor moved to approve the budget as presented; the motion was seconded and the board approved it.

What the board approved: the budget as presented at the meeting, with staff authorized to submit the proposed levy and related information to the Iowa Department of Management by the state filing deadline. The board also directed staff to continue work on fund-balance scenarios and to present any final adjustments before the levy hearing.

The board recorded no detailed roll-call counts in the meeting transcript; the clerk announced the motion pproved following an affirmative voice vote.

Looking ahead: the board will hold the required public hearing on the proposed tax levy on March 26 at 1 p.m. and the county will file levy information with the state Department of Management on the published schedule.