Supervisors adopt county budget
Wage freeze set for nonunion employees, office holdersBy ANNE BLANKENSHIP Daily Freeman-Journal Managing Editor
With a wage freeze in place for nonunion employees, and deep cuts taken by most departments, the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors Tuesday adopted the county budget for 2010-2011.
Board President Doug Bailey walked through an overview of the proposed county budget, noting that before the supervisors began the budget process, they were already facing a $415,000 deficit. The shortfall was primarily due to a decline in revenue of $270,000 and health insurance increases.
Earlier this year, the board asked the conservation department to take a $41,000 cut and Public Health decreased its budget by $40,000. For the first time in many years, the supervisors also asked for a cut from law enforcement totaling $83,000, Bailey said. After finding $111,000 in revenues, the supervisors were still looking at a shortfall of more than $100,000.
"So, we're budgeting for a $140,000 deficit in a $5 million budget," Sweedler said. The deficit will be made up through the county's cash reserves.
"We don't always pass a balanced budget but by the end of the year, we get there. These are not normal times, but if we continue to manage the budget as we have in the past, I'm confident we will come out better than budgeted," said Sweedler.
Sweedler said counties typically try to maintain a 25 percent ending budget cushion. Current estimates indicate the 2011 ending funds will be at about 16 percent. Bailey said he felt that percentage would increase as in previous years, and resulting in an balance closer to the 25 percent range.
The 2009 assessed valuations, collectible in 2010-2011, totaled $772,494,578, according to Bailey. That breaks down to $288,739,120 for urban valuations and $483,755,458 for rural valuations. The county receives 28.16 percent of the tax dollars collected and the community schools in the county receive 42.83 percent of the total tax dollars. The cities divide 20 percent of the taxes collected, Iowa Central Community College receives 2.98 percent and Hamilton Hospital uses 2.06 percent of the total tax dollars in the county.
"For every Hamilton County tax dollar received, only 30 cents stays with the county. The rest goes to the other taxing authorities in the county," Sweedler said.
The urban levy rate for 2011 was set at $6.59848 per $1,000 in taxable valuation. That's an increase from $6.39210 in the current year's budget and in 2009. The total rural levy rate for the new budget was set at $10.21105 per $1,000 of taxable valuation. The levy was up from the current year and 2009 levy of $10.0067.
The supervisors said the residential, commercial and industrial valuations that constitute the urban valuations have continued to drop, while the rural valuations have steadily risen since 2006.
The county implemented a wage freeze for nonunion employees for the 2011 budget, according to Bailey. He said that the supervisors have asked the union representing the deputies, dispatchers and jailers to not take its budgeted increase in the current year, and to agree to a wage freeze for 2011. The supervisors are waiting for the union's response.
He said the board also hoped to negotiate for a new contract with secondary roads employees. Those workers have also been asked to take a wage freeze for the coming year.
County office holders will also see no salary increases in 2011. The compensation board met in January to review the salaries of the county attorney, auditor, recorder, sheriff, supervisors, and treasurer. The board members reviewed the salaries of office holders in other counties as well as considering the Consumer Price Index and cost of living wage increases from 2000 to 2009, which averaged 3 percent.
A 3 percent across the board increase for the office holders was recommended by the compensation board. The supervisors on Tuesday implemented a wage freeze for the office holders.
"Actually, what people may not realize is that this is really a wage decrease when you take into consideration the health insurance premium increase," said Supervisor Wes Sweedler. The county employees and office holders will absorb a $22,000 increase in the employee portion of the health insurance plan. If the county is able to negotiate with the two unions for new agreements, that cost would be further spread out among more employees. The county was socked with a $175,000 hike to its share of the health care costs.
"This budget may have been the most difficult in my time as a supervisor," said David Young. "But I feel good and I think if we look at history, we'll probably end up with an increased fund balance. There's nothing to be alarmed about."
"The biggest fear is what the state will do next," Young said. Looking ahead to 2012 may mean deeper cuts and reductions, he added.
Contact Anne Blankenship at editor@freemanjournal.net or call 832-4350.
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