Floyd County winds up the year; transfers funds, approves pay for 2021-22

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Floyd County supervisors finished up several routine end-of-the-year matters at their last regular meeting of the fiscal year Tuesday afternoon.

The 2020-21 fiscal year ends June 30 and the 2021-22 fiscal year begins July 1.

Supervisors certified county employee pay rates for the new fiscal year. Most county employees are getting 1.5% pay increases, although some departments that have independent managing fboards, such as Floyd County Public Health under the Board of Health and Floyd County Conservation under the Floyd County Conservation Board, opted for some different salary levels within the department budgets the supervisors had earlier approved.

The board also approved a resolution amending an economic development incentive plan for a Cambrex expansion project in the Southwest Bypass Urban Renewal Area. The county and Charles City jointly manage the Southwest Bypass district, and the City Council had already approved the amendment.

The financial incentive plan had originally awarded Cambrex up to $170,000 in property tax rebates on the increased value of the property because of an expansion project by the company, but the Cambrex project turned out to be far more extensive than originally planned.

Based on the new valuation of the property because of the expansion, the property tax rebate based on the original formula would have been $625,000 to Cambrex, and the company requested the agreement be increased to that amount.

The Charles City Area Development Corp. also endorsed changing the agreement.

The Board of Supervisors also set a public hearing for 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday, July 13, at the courthouse assembly room, to discuss approval of a development agreement with the Area Development Corp. to help fund its work promoting economic development.

The proposal is for the county to finance the ADC a total of $55,500 over the next three fiscal years, with that money to be paid out of property tax increment revenue received from the Southwest Bypass District.

In other action Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors:

• Set a public hearing for 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, July 13, to receive comments regarding selling the property at 1726 Woodland Drive, Charles City, located off of Highway 18/27 between Charles City and Floyd. The property, formerly known as the Hummel property, was acquired by the county after property taxes went unpaid.
• Agreed to transfer $25,000 from the county general fund to the emergency management fund. The county usually makes an annual transfer to the fund and had budgeted transferring $50,000, but the emergency management fund has a current fund balance of just over $100,000, so the board decided to cut the transfer in half.
• Agreed to transfer $61,400 from the general fund to the conservation reserve fund. The annual transfer in some ways represents outside revenue Floyd County Conservation receives throughout the year.
• Agreed to an interfund operating transfer of $1,326,381 from the rural services basic fund to the secondary road fund, a share of property taxes collected.
• Agreed to an interfund operating transfer of $118,136 from the general basic fund to the secondary road fund, a share of property taxes collected.
• Approved the annual contract with County Engineer Dusten Rolando for $131,995, representing a 1% pay increase over the previous contract. Rolando is county engineer for both Floyd and Chickasaw counties. Floyd County pays his salary, benefits and expenses and is reimbursed for half of those costs by Chickasaw County.