Budget requests filled the agenda at the Greene County board of supervisors regular meeting on Jan 20.
Pete Russell, treasurer, and Ian Wilkinson, president, of the Jefferson Area Chamber explained the change in name from Greene County to Jefferson Area. Russell said, “People are more likely to search online for area activities and attractions if a city name is used rather than a county name. Searching for Jefferson will bring people to the tourism website which includes county attractions.”
Russell said there are currently 158 members of the chamber and they are considering resurrecting the Ambassador program wherein new members are visited by a group from the Chamber. Russell said, “Jefferson Matters: Main Street is working more with the Chamber now.”
Other projects have been Hot August Night, Winter Festival, Get Lit for the Holidays, and flyers and other advertising projects for tourism.
Wilkinson and Russell requested $5,000 for FY21, the same as the current fiscal year. No action was taken by the board.
John Grush, Central Iowa Community Services regional director, and Ellen Ritter, county service coordinator, presented the proposed mental health budget for FY21. In connection with that, Ritter also presented a proposed General Assistance budget.
Adjustments were made between the two budgets to reflect the time Ritter is spending in each office. Currently, 80 percent of Ritter’s salary comes from the mental health budget and 20 percent from general assistance. The FY21 budgets propose 97.5 percent of her salary come from mental health and 2.5 percent from general assistance.
Grush said the mental health tax levy is expected to increase to $233,506 based on funding of $26 per capita, compared with the current year’s levy of $22.50 per capita, or $199,378.
Ritter presented the general assistance request for FY21. She requested increasing the county cremation reimbursements to funeral homes from $900 to between $1,000 and $1,500. The last increase was in FY13, from $750 to $900.
The current general assistance budget is $34,502. About $10,000 of Ritter’s salary is proposed to be absorbed by the mental health budget. Ritter did not give an estimated FY21 budget request, pending action taken by the board on the cremation reimbursement to funeral homes rate.
No action was taken by the board. Funeral assistance will be on a future board agenda.
Engineer Wade Weiss presented a proposed FY21 budget for secondary roads. In summary, expenditures are estimated at $6 million while revenues from property taxes, local option sales tax, and other sources are estimated at the same figure.
Weiss requested a 4 percent wage increase for secondary road employees and 3 percent increases to transfers from the general fund ($54,636) and the rural funds ($1,207,464.) The proposed request from local option sales taxes was the same as the current year at $325,000. No action was taken by the board.
Michelle Fields reviewed drainage department and information technology/data processing budgets for FY21. The drainage dept. budget reflects a 3 percent increase in salary and totals $37,890. Because of improvements and upgrades in information processing and decrease in outside tech services, the proposed IT budget was able to be decreased by $42,000. That budget was estimated as $264,324 for FY21. No action was taken by the board.
The clerk of court budget estimate for FY21 was just under $100,000, compared to the current year budget of $102,000. The decrease was attributed to a decrease in shelter care and juvenile detention services needed by the county. No action was taken by the board.
The medical examiner budget was estimated at $25,000 for FY21. No action was taken by the board. The board of supervisors reviewed its own estimate of expenditures for FY21 and found a decrease of $18,600, despite a recommended salary increase of 3 percent. Savings in the areas of legal and professional services are projected making the total less than the current fiscal year. No action was taken by the board.
