No additional county funds for new animal shelter until the city of Jefferson asks
The Greene County supervisors got good news and almost good news at their June 26 meeting when Joan St Clair of Heritage Insurance reviewed the county’s insurance coverage and rates from the Iowa Communities Assurance Pool (ICAP) and the Iowa Municipalities Workers’ Compensation Association (IMWCA) for workers’ comp insurance.
The good news came on the workers’ comp premium. That rate is determined in part by claims for work comp payments – the fewer work-related injuries leading to workers’ comp claims a group of employees generates, the lower the rate. That calculation, the experience modification factor, dropped from .75 to .69. According to St Clair, that’s the lowest the county’s modification factor has ever been. “Secondary roads has been very good on claims,” she said.
The total payroll for covered employees is another factor in calculating the premium. Even with an increase in wages, the workers’ comp insurance premium for the fiscal year starting July 1 is $52,838, a decrease of $3,503 from the year ending June 30.
Rates from ICAP, which covers property, crime, boiler and machinery, and auto physical damage, increased partly because building values increased 8.5 percent, or $3,623,430. The premium for the new fiscal year is $273,675, increased from $243,547 in the current year. The news of the increase is almost good news because it was less than expected. The budget projection was for a total premium of $288,000.
The supervisors approved appropriating 85 percent of the total expenditures budgeted for each county office and department for FY24 (July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024), per the FY24 budget.
In another budget matter, county auditor Jane Heun said she has not heard from the city of Jefferson regarding an increase in county funding for the animal shelter. During the years-long process of garnering support and funding for the new shelter, the supervisors in 2017 agreed to increase the county’s annual allocation for the shelter from $6,000 to $15,000 once a new shelter was completed.
The city has not approached the county. “I think the burden is on the city if they want more money,” Laehn said. “Until the city approaches us, I say we keep paying what we’re paying.”
Heun included $6,000 in the FY24 budget, although the new Greene County Animal Shelter is in full operation.
The supervisors held a public hearing on the sale of a county-owned lot at 300 S. Wilson Ave in Jefferson. There were no public comments and the supervisors approved the sale of the property for $500 to Triple S Properties LLC.
Zoning coordinator Chuck Wenthold reminded the supervisors that the board of adjustment will hold hearings Thursday, July 6, at 5 pm at the courthouse board room on National Grid Renewable’s application for a conditional use permit for the Grand Junction solar project, and on a conditional use permit application from Hardin Hilltop Wind related to replacing its current substation.
