Kossuth County supervisors review road, public‑safety and department budgets; set 4% baseline for raises

Kossuth County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 7 heard a set of budget briefings covering the secondary road fund, public‑safety staffing and other departmental requests and directed county staff to use a 4% baseline for employee pay increases when preparing departmental budgets.

County Engineer Doug reviewed the secondary road fund and statewide comparisons, telling supervisors that Kossuth County began the fiscal year with a July 1, 2024 balance of $5,271,847.40 and, after six months of operations, carried an auditor ending balance of $4,744,911.19. He told the board the road fund’s revenues and expenses are expected to leave the fund lower than it began but that the department’s mix of road‑use tax, general and rural levies and local option sales tax supports planned operations. “I believe secondary road department in Kossuth County is efficient. It spends its money wisely,” he said.

Doug walked the board through Iowa Department of Transportation and county annual report comparisons showing Kossuth’s total roadway miles, bridge counts and staff levels relative to other counties. He said Kossuth has the largest county area in the state, roughly 973 square miles, and described planned capital work including a locally funded $1,000,000 construction allocation and a $650,000 locally contracted bridge that will carry into the next fiscal year. He also presented proposed salary adjustments for road employees and argued the engineer’s office compensation had lagged regional comparables.

Separately, the county’s self‑insurance fund was summarized as having ended December with a balance of $2,477,723.47. County staff described that fund’s variability month‑to‑month and the county’s $75,000 stop‑loss threshold for health claims; administrators said they expect the fund to be roughly $200,000–$250,000 lower by fiscal year end depending on claims activity.

Conservation, treasurer, county attorney and medical death‑investigation budgets were also reviewed. Conservation staff proposed a budget nearly unchanged from the prior year with a 6% salary assumption in their materials but asked the board to instruct Tammy (auditor/finance staff) on a uniform percentage for county budgeting. The county treasurer reported rising motor‑vehicle and registration receipts; the office recommended conservative revenue estimates but noted recent fee changes will increase motor‑vehicle revenue beginning in the new calendar year. The medical death investigator proposed raising investigator pay to $60 an hour and an on‑call rate of $1.20 per hour for pager duty to align with neighboring counties.

Sheriff’s Office: staffing, funding and union filing Sheriff Roger said the department has 26 employees (11 certified patrol, 13 certified corrections and two office staff) and that the jail’s average daily population was about 12 inmates last year with roughly 339 bookings. He warned of recruitment and retention pressures: certified deputies and jailers face competition from neighboring jurisdictions and vessel increases in county engineer and other county salaries. He said deputies had filed for union representation and that the deputies are pursuing representation through the appropriate state process; he told supervisors he had received notification and expected the board and department to learn the timeline from the state labor body.

The sheriff urged the board to consider larger increases for jail and corrections staff to recover income lost last year from an insurance cost shift and 0% raises; he estimated an 8–10% adjustment would be required to restore what corrections staff lost in the prior year. He also described vehicle and equipment cost pressures (state bid patrol vehicle prices plus equipment pushing total per unit costs into the $70,000 range).

County Attorney request: victim‑witness coordinator County Attorney Todd asked the board to reclassify and move the office’s victim‑witness coordinator to a separate line and resolution rather than leave the position as general support staff. He detailed after‑hours workload — 515 after‑hours calls to the position in 2024 — and noted the statewide legal obligations and services the coordinator provides for victims and witnesses. Todd asked the board to recognize the role with a higher, separate classification and proposed a target salary that would raise the coordinator’s compensation by roughly $5,936 compared with current aggregated support‑staff pay.

Board direction and next steps The board instructed county staff to prepare departmental budgets using a 4% salary‑increase baseline for budget computations; department heads were asked to submit budgets reflecting that number so supervisors could assess countywide affordability when they have final insurance and revenue information. Supervisors additionally noted the county may revisit individual requests during subsequent workshops as fund balances and insurance quotes are finalized.

The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn that the board approved unanimously.