IOWA CITY — Johnson County officials have described the proposed budget for next fiscal year as one that includes minor changes, as spending for programs and services were adjusted, but not cut.
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing Wednesday on the fiscal 2025 proposed budget, which would run from July 1 through June 30, 2025. The hearing will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the second-floor boardroom of the Johnson County Health and Human Services Building, 855 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City.
County officials attributed the little-changed budget to legislation passed last year and signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds. House File 718, which had bipartisan support, is intended to provide tax relief for property owners in the state, but it also limits the amount of growth cities and counties can capture by reducing levies based on percent of valuation growth.
Johnson County finance director Dana Aschenbrenner wrote in an email that the county has budgeted roughly $170 million in expenditures for next fiscal year. To finance everything, he said the county will use roughly $113 million in revenues, $17 million in borrowings and $40 million carried over funds.
Rod Sullivan, chair of the county’s board of supervisors, said the levy rates for urban and rural areas of the county both would increase. Under the proposed budget, the levy rate for general services countywide would increase to $6.43 per $1,000 of taxable valuation from the current year’s rate of $6.06. The levy rate for rural services would increase to $10.42 per $1,000 of taxable valuation, up from the current year’s rate of $9.75.
Despite the increase, Sullivan said property owners would actually be paying less in property taxes because of the rollback — a state-set rate that determines the percent of a property’s value that can be taxed. This year’s rollback rate is the lowest it has been in 45 years.
Using, as an example, a property with an assessed value of $100,000, Sullivan said urban Johnson County residents would pay $33 less per year, and owners of agricultural land in rural areas would pay $171 less.
New positions contribute to increased expenditures
Guillermo Morales, Johnson County executive director, said the county approached this year’s budget process cautiously because of changes at the state level. He described the budget as having minor changes, but said the county worked to keep the budget flat.
Among the additions to this year’s budget are new employees. That includes 9.6 new full-time equivalent county paramedics. Of those, 5.6 FTEs are contingent on a contract with University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Morales said those 5.6 FTEs would be budget neutral because they would be paid for by UIHC.
The budget also will add two positions to the county attorney’s office: a public safety and justice public information officer, and a county investigator position.
Historic Poor Farm, Johnson exhibit among planned projects
Other increases in expenditures can be attributed to budgeting for ongoing projects, including renovations to the Historic Poor Farm.
The Historic Poor Farm is a 160-acre plot at 4811 Melrose Ave., west of Iowa City, which the county has been working on since 2017. The project involves repairing and restoring the buildings on the property, with the goal to make the farm open and accessible to the public.
Morales said money had been budgeted to add a play area for children, and also for new trails to be created on the property. He added that roughly $500,000 had been set aside for the trails specifically, but the project was dependent on the county receiving a grant. If the grant is not awarded, the money will be used for something else.
Another project in the budget was the creation of an exhibit about county eponym, Lulu Merle Johnson.
Besides those projects, he said some of the other bigger expenditures for the county include repairing facilities and the ongoing courthouse renovation.
Frustration over inability to grow
Morales said no cuts had been made to county programs, services or staffing, but those things also did not increase substantially because of the state’s new rule that limits how much growth can be captured.
“It's just a matter of not being able to do the things we had hoped we would be able to do because we aren't able to capture the benefit of increased property values,” Morales said.
He said heading into budget discussions, many department heads and elected officials in the county had been asking for additional staff. Examples include the sheriff asking for a new administrative assistant, and the board of supervisors office hoping to add another employee to increase its capacity.
“There were a few kind of asks from department heads and elected officials that, you know, the board just didn't have the ability to grant given how uncertain things are, and given the limitations that have been put in place by the state legislature,” he said.
This frustration was echoed by Sullivan, who said there is a desire to grow and expand services as the population in the county increases.
When it came to adding new staff positions, Sullivan said the supervisors made decisions based on their opinions of what they think the county needs, informed by speaking with staff.
Morales and Sullivan said the goal of the fiscal 2025 budget was to keep the current level of services in the county, and Sullivan said he was proud the budget was accomplishing this.
But looking ahead, Sullivan said maintaining services at current levels will be difficult to accomplish with growth caps.
“What I'd like people to understand is that the fact that Johnson County has been well managed has allowed us to weather this in a way that they won't see a lot of, you know, changes to the level of service,” Sullivan said. “But also that a bunch of years like this in a row are going to make it impossible to maintain the level of services.”
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