Faith, representing Winneshiek County Veterans Affairs, told supervisors on Dec. 22 the office will ask the board to acknowledge a handful of small budget adjustments and highlighted recent increases in benefits flowing to county veterans.

"We have not asked for any increases in the last 12 years," Faith said while explaining proposed line-item changes that together sum to $2,555 in the current draft: $55 for veteran software, $500 for newspaper advertising, $1,000 for mileage reimbursement adjustments and $1,000 for training/hotels. Faith also said the county
greed to increase van-driver pay tied to the volunteer van program from $60 to $100 per day; the budget already reflects that rate change.

On program outcomes, Faith presented GDX (geographic distribution) figures: compensation and pension payments reported for Winneshiek County were $6,205,456 for the most recent GDX period versus $5,361,000 the prior year, an increase of $844,456. For the current year she cited $1,538,780 in new awards compared with $1,213,260 the prior year, an increase of $325,520. She explained the GDX tool has limitations tied to ZIP-code reporting and may not capture every veteran served by the county office.

Supervisors asked how the public can better understand the office's reach. Faith said the office publishes two annual newspaper inserts delivered to every doorstep in the county and holds an open house in June to raise awareness. She also reminded veterans to reapply if circumstances or VA rules change.

What the board will do: Faith said the commission will formally acknowledge the van-driver rate and likely place the budget line-item adjustments on the January agenda for final approval. The presentation closed with staff offering to provide additional documentation if supervisors requested more detail.

Source notes: GDX figures and active/pending file counts were provided by the county Veterans Affairs office during the presentation.