Floyd County supervisors approve new fiscal year budget with little fanfare

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The process of approving a new county budget by the Floyd County Board of Supervisors this year was a sharp contrast to the previous two years, with no comments received from the public during a public hearing on the budget held Monday morning.

Although developing the budget lasted months as usual, officially approving the new county budget took minutes, compared to hours spent on public hearings with upset property owners during the budgeting process last year and the year before.

One of the main reasons for the difference is likely that property tax rates were proposed to increase in the previous two budget years, but ticked down for the next county fiscal year, which will start July 1.

“We had two goals this year,” said Supervisor Chair Mark Kuhn after he closed the brief public hearing Monday morning. Besides not increasing the county levy rate, those goals were to not cut county services and to maintain healthy balances in county funds.

“Overall, that took a lot of sacrifice,” Kuhn said, including reducing compensation board pay increase recommendations for county elected officials by 70% and holding many other employees to 3% raises.

As a result, many county employees are not getting pay increases to cover inflation, Kuhn said.

The county supervisors had previously voted to receive no pay increase themselves, continuing a trend for board members that has gone on for several years.

The supervisors had also decided to not make a distribution – $123,000 this year – from rural services to the county Secondary Roads Department, as had been routine in previous years.

“In my viewpoint that was a one-time decision,” Kuhn said.

The countywide property tax levy for people who live in cities in the county will be $6.298 per $1,000 of assessed taxable valuation, down 8.9% from the current year’s $6.913 levy.

The total tax levy for property in the unincorporated areas of the county (which includes the countywide levy as well as an additional rural services levy) will be $9.893 per $1,000 of assessed taxable valuation, down 6.3% from the current $10.563 per $1,000.

Supervisor Dennis Keifer said county department heads helped the supervisors meet their budget goals.

“They made some sacrifices, too,” he said.

Also at the meeting Monday morning, the board members heard from a representative of Snyder and Associates of Ankeny regarding being the county’s designated inspector for the carbon dioxide transport pipelines if either or both of the pipelines proposed to go through Floyd County receives a construction permit.

Counties are required by state code to choose an inspector on the pipeline projects to ensure that agricultural land is returned to its previous condition and easement and private property agreements are followed during and after construction takes place. The pipelines are required to pay the costs of the inspectors.

The previous Board of Supervisors had heard presentations from several companies making pitches to be chosen to provide the inspection services, but this was the first by the new board which took office in January and was from a company that hadn’t presented before.

Kristina Paradise, manager of county inspection services for Snyder, took the board through the Iowa Utilities Board and Iowa Code requirements for inspectors, and made special note that people who have pipelines seeking easements to cross their property can negotiate for more than just money from the pipeline companies.

She said property owners can negotiate for the pipeline placement within the easement, pipeline depth, the timeline for construction, details on the ag restoration process, fencing requirements, appurtenances such as shutoff valves, indemnification of future damages for the property owner and even for the substances that can be transported.

The pipelines are meant to transport carbon dioxide now, but the easements are perpetual, and there’s always the chance the pipeline could sell the easement to another company that wants to transport something else, she said.

Supervisor Kuhn asked Paradise if she thought most property owners were aware they could negotiate individual agreements in addition to the easements.

Paradise said she didn’t think so, and she also said she thought anyone negotiating with a pipeline should have an attorney representing them.

“You can ask for the moon,” she said. “Whether you would get that is unknown. Each parcel will be different.”

The supervisors took no action on Paradise’s proposal, and agreed to hear from some other companies offering inspection services, including those that had presented to the previous Board of Supervisors.

Also at the meeting Monday morning, the board:

• Officially approved county elected officials’ compensation for the new fiscal year beginning July 1. The new salaries will be county sheriff, a 3% increase to $104,913; county auditor, a 2.7% increase to $75,314; county recorder and county treasurer, 2.13% increases to $74,653; and county supervisors, $40,098 each. The increases are a 70% reduction of the increases recommended by the Floyd County Compensation Board, except for the supervisors who took no increase.

The county attorney, now a part-time position, had previously agreed to an $84,000 annual salary, to continue in the new fiscal year.

• Declared April 9-15 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in Floyd County, in honor of the county dispatch department.

• Agreed to have Floyd County Public Health/Home Health Care Administrator Gail Arjes put together a committee to make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors how to spend what is estimated to be more than $100,000 the county will receive from various settlements made with the state by companies that manufactured or distributed opioids. The settlements have various provisions requiring how the money can be spent on opioid abuse prevention, treatment, education, etc.