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Muscatine County adopts $50.2 million 2026–27 budget; elected-official salaries approved
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Summary
The Muscatine County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted the fiscal year 2026–27 budget with $50,224,110 in proposed expenditures and approved a separate resolution setting elected officials' salaries; a library director warned cuts will reduce services and staff.
The Muscatine County Board of Supervisors on April 13 adopted the county's fiscal year 2026–27 budget and approved a separate resolution setting elected officials' salaries.
During a public hearing, a county presenter said proposed expenditures total $50,224,110 while projected revenues are $34,955,168, with roughly half of revenues coming from property taxes and the county using prior-year fund balance to cover the difference. The presenter described major spending areas including public safety and legal services (jail, sheriff, county attorney), physical health and social services, roads and transportation, and capital projects such as the Engineering and Zoning Building and an engineer satellite shed.
The board then voted on a resolution read in the meeting as "resolution 0 4 dash 1 dash 2 6 dash 0 1" to set elected officials' fiscal year 2026–27 salaries and separately moved to adopt the FY 2026–27 county budget (read as "0 4 1 3 2 6 0 2"). Both measures passed by roll-call vote, with all five supervisors recorded as voting "Aye." The chair announced the motions carried 5-0.
Robert Fiedler, director of Mercer Public Library and HNI Community Center, addressed the board during public comment and urged officials to consider the impact of reductions on library services. "The county contribution is decreasing by about $54,000, so from a 134,000 to about $80,000," Fiedler said, adding that the city is also cutting capital outlay by about $50,000. He said the combined $104,000 gap will force the library to reduce open hours from 60 to 52 per week, eliminate Sunday hours, curtail evening programming and outreach, cut three digital databases, and reduce staff hours by the equivalent of roughly a 0.75 full-time position.
The board did not amend the budget during the meeting. The resolutions were passed by unanimous roll-call votes; next procedural steps were not specified during the session.
