Linn County OKs preliminary County Attorney FY2027 appropriation after budget presentation

The Linn County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a preliminary FY2027 appropriation for the County Attorney’s Office after a budget presentation on Jan. 9.

During the board’s 1:30 p.m. meeting at the Gene Oxy Public Service Center, Sarah Barrows, Linn County’s budget director, said, “The Appropriations request from the County Attorney's Office is $6,927,008.65 with revenues of 263,566.” Barrows told supervisors the office’s operating request was modestly over guidelines—roughly $20,210—largely because of contract increases, postage and higher expert witness fees.

“I’ll start off the presentation,” Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said, describing staffing, caseload and revenue trends for his office. Maybanks told the board the office’s criminal, civil and juvenile divisions show mixed signals: overall case filings are expected to be slightly lower than recent peaks, but indictable misdemeanors are up and possession-of-marijuana filings rose sharply. He said much of the increase in marijuana filings is managed through the county’s diversion program and that “about in the 50% range” of participants have historically completed diversion and had charges dismissed.

Maybanks highlighted that increases in trials have pushed up costs. He said the office projects 46 trials in the current fiscal year after 40 in FY25, and requested a $12,000 increase in the expert witness line to reflect higher trial activity and rising expert rates. He also described recurring operational increases, including a $10-per-user rise in PBK licensing fees and a 7% increase in Westlaw research subscriptions.

The presentation emphasized victim services shortfalls. Maybanks said the office served about 2,177 victims in FY25 with three victim witness coordinators and argued that Linn County is “critically underserving our victims” compared with peer counties; he recommended adding a coordinator and estimated salary-and-benefits costs of roughly $92,000 for that position.

On staffing, Maybanks credited recent hires and internships for reducing felony caseloads and increasing case resolutions: he said adding a felony and a rehabilitation prosecutor cut average felony caseloads materially and led to a 55% increase in certain case resolutions in an eight-month comparison and a 63% year-over-year rise in closed sexual/abuse prosecutions in 2025.

Supervisors thanked Maybanks and his team for the detail and said they would weigh the office’s offers against overall county fiscal constraints. Speaker 1 moved to approve “a preliminary budget FY27 total appropriation of $6,927,865 in revenues of $263,566 for the County Attorney, Linn County attorney's budget.” Speaker 2 seconded. The board approved the motion by voice vote; the minutes record “Aye” and “Motion passes.” The motion text in the packet and Barrows’s slide differed slightly on the appropriation figure; the record includes both $6,927,008.65 (presented) and $6,927,865 (moved in the motion).

Separately, staff reported a minor utility forecast adjustment (Alliant projecting about a 2% increase) that will be folded into board building expenses. The board also agreed to move the rural economic development director position (about $140,000 in salary and benefits originally removed from public health) into a holding status pending further discussion of departmental placement and funding.

There were no public comments. The board adjourned after the vote.

What’s next: the preliminary appropriation and offers will be included in further budget deliberations and the board will review final numbers and the placement/funding for the rural economic development director in upcoming budget sessions.