Floyd County budget protest hearing set for May 10

Floyd County budget petition.

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The State Appeal Board will hold a hearing on May 10 to hear from people who filed a petition objecting to the recently approved Floyd County budget, and to hear from county officials defending their actions.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Monday, May 10, at Wrightz Auction Co. (formerly known as the Gilbert Sale Yard), 1406 U.S. Highway 218 north of Floyd.

The meeting, which is planned to last no more than an hour and 15 minutes, will also be streamed via Zoom, with meeting ID 880 9143 6263, passcode 651232. It will also be available by dial-in, at 312-626-6799, with the same meeting ID number and passcode.

More than 1,000 signatures were collected throughout Floyd County in early April on a protest petition asking for a state review in response to a county budget that included property tax increases tied in part to increased costs for the Floyd County Law Enforcement Center and courthouse updates project.

The petition makes four allegations against the county Board of Supervisors, including that the board “unreasonably and arbitrarily increased the tax levy as to property holders in order to finance improperly contracted repairs and work orders without any cap or adequate supervision of construction costs.”

According to information sent to the leaders of the petition initiative, and to Floyd County officials, the purpose of the meeting is to “hear the concerns of the petitioners regarding the county’s adopted budget and to hear the concerns of the county regarding the petition that was filed against the budget.”

Both the petitioners and the county Board of Supervisors are asked to designate one or two people to act as their spokespersons, and to submit a copy of their opening statement and any exhibits to the state board and to the other party in advance of the meeting.

“Other interested parties may also want to express their concerns about the adopted budget and, time permitting, these concerns will be heard at the public hearing,” according to an information statement about the process from the state board.

The State Appeal Board consists of Director of the Department of Management Michael Bousselot; State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald and Auditor of State Rob Sand, but they will be represented at the hearing by an appointed hearing officer. The state board will make any decision regarding the outcome of the appeal, which could include ordering reductions in spending and/or taxes collected.

Although the appeal hearing is described as informal, it will follow a fairly structured format over its 1¼ hours:

• First, the petitioners will present their appeal to the board (max 15 minutes).
• Then, the Board of Supervisors’ representative will make their opening remarks and rebuttal (max 15 minutes).
• Next, the petitioners will be given an opportunity for rebuttal (max 10 minutes).
• At the conclusion of the opening presentations and rebuttals, presentations from third party intervenors will be heard (max 10 minutes).
• Comments from the audience will be heard.
• Questions by the hearing panel (max 10 minutes).
• Closing comments by the petitioners (max 5 minutes).
• Closing comments by the Board of Supervisors’ representatives (max 5 minutes).

If all the listed parts take up their full allotted time, they will use up 70 of the 75 minutes schedule for the hearing, leaving 5 minutes total for “comments from the audience.”

The instructions also say that if either side in the hearing or anyone else at the meeting doesn’t have enough time to make all their points or ask all their questions, they can be submitted in writing after the hearing.

After reviewing information received at the public hearing and any subsequent correspondence, the State Appeal Board will consider the petition and make its decision at a regular or special meeting of the board.

According to state code, the State Appeal Board has the power to “approve, disapprove, or reduce all such proposed budgets, expenditures and tax levies so submitted to it upon appeal,” but it can’t increase a budget, expenditure or a tax levy.

The decision will be in writing and include findings of fact, conclusions of law and a decision. The decision will be mailed to those persons who received the notice of the public hearing.

The officials of Floyd County are identified as County Auditor Gloria Carr and Supervisors Linda Tjaden, Doug Kamm and Roy Schwickerath.

The persons representing the petitioners are the first 10 persons whose names are on the petition, who are listed as Brian Chatfield, Dennis Keifer, Merlyn Schweizer, James Kisch, Gordon Boge, Brian Schmidtke, Craig Schweizer, P. Scott Andrews, Clair Rottinghaus and Michelle Anderegg.