Supervisors adopt budget for FY2015, which includes increase in General Basic Fund levy

by Bob Beach

During its regular meeting Tuesday, March 11 the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing regarding the County's proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. The budget of approximately $16 million includes an increase in the levy for the General Basic Fund by ten cents for every thousand dollars of property value for both urban and rural property owners, an increase that Chairman Larry Schellhammer said would generate approximately $73,000 in revenue.
Schellhammer said that the General Basic levy has been taxed at the maximum allowable rate of $3.50 per thousand for many years and that notice had been published of the Board's intention to exceed that maximum by 10 cents per thousand. In response to an inquiry, Deputy Auditor Chris Gavin reported that the total cost of salary increases recently approved by the Board for the coming fiscal year (including salaries, FICA, IPERS and health insurance) is estimated at approximately $96,700. Hearing no public comments on the proposed budget, the Board closed the public hearing and then adopted the budget and certification of taxes for Fiscal Year 2015.
The Board also met with Sheriff Clark Mellick and Waterville Mayor Dave Monserud regarding an agreement for County law enforcement services. Mellick said that such an agreement is required by law but that the County had previously provided law enforcement services to Waterville without a formal agreement. He said that the agreement presented to the Board formalizes the current arrangement and that the City of Waterville would pay the County $1,000 per year for law enforcement services plus an additional $250 for liability insurance.
Mellick stated that the agreement bears no similarities to the agreement with the City of Harpers Ferry for law enforcement services, noting that current agreement does not address potential liability issues. County Attorney Jill Kistler said that she had already started working on an update of the agreement with Harpers Ferry. The Board approved the agreement with Waterville, which Monserud reported had already been approved by the Waterville City Council.
In other business, the Board met with County Engineer Brian Ridenour regarding the future of the Mississippi River Trail (MRT) project. Ridenour said that he had met with the County Conservation Board regarding how to best use the federal money earmarked for the project. Conservation Director Jim Janett said that the Conservation Board had concluded that, in light of the difficulties in completing other segments of the project, the best use of the federal funds would be to extend the MRT segment north on County Road X52 from Red Oak Road as far as Lafayette Ridge Drive if enough funding is available. The Board agreed with that assessment and voted to change the segment priority accordingly.
The Board also agreed to sign an updated 28E agreement with County Social Services (CSS), which includes some rule changes and the addition of Emmet County to the now 22-county region for mental health and developmental disabilities services.
During public comment time, a representative from The Standard Newspaper (this reporter), asked the Board to reconsider its decision to hold its regular meetings Tuesday rather than Monday because reporting on the Board's Tuesday meetings can not be published until the following Wednesday due to the newspaper's long-established printing schedule.