Supervisors fine-tune county appropriations

     During the Feb. 7 Jones County Supervisors meeting, the board considered several appropriation items as they prepare to finalize the Fiscal Year 2019 county budget:

     The board chose not to budget additional funding for the Conservation Department’s request for an additional full-time employee.

     The board voted 4-1 to maintain county library funding at $103,692 from $101,976. Manternach opposed.

     “Rural libraries are hurting,” said Oswald, who spoke with a Monticello Public Library board member.

     Zikelbach agreed. “When you visit with people across the county, libraries are a catalyst. A little amount of money does add up,” he said of the increase in funding.

     Manternach said he was opposed because when it comes to funding services, “you have to draw the line somewhere.

     “It still falls on the taxpayers,” he said.

     The board chose to appropriate Jones County Economic Development at $40,000 now and consider the additional $10,000 after a director has been hired and in place. JCED was requesting $50,000 from the county.

     “It should not be all on our shoulders,” commented Rohwedder of footing the bill to hire a new director. “I think $40,000 is still a significant increase.”

     In the past, the county has funded JCED at about $30,000.

     The board chose to leave $5,000 appropriation in the county budget for Keep Iowa Beautiful, a state program tied to the Parks to People initiative.

     The board chose not to fund the Riverview Center for their domestic violence services at this time. Riverview was requesting $5,000.

     “My concern is that we’ll give them the money and not necessarily see a local office,” commented Manternach.

In other county business:

     • County Treasurer Amy Picray presented the county’s quarterly investment reports.

     The county currently has over $2.7 million in CD funds, which is up from $620,000 last year. The county’s total in CDs, money market funds (MMF), and checking sits at $12.2 million, up $1.7 million from a year ago. The county’s total assets at $17.6 million actually are down $893,000 from a year ago.

     Picray said the county’s CD and MMF balances the last several years has continued to climb (December 2015, $8 million; December 2016, $9.8 million; December 2017, $10.8 million).

     For the landfill, the total sitting in CDs is just under $2 million. This is down $128,000 from a year ago. The landfill’s total assets are at $2.1 million, also down $113,000 from last year.

     • IT Coordinator Lisa Mootz and E911 Coordinator Gary Schwab met with the board concerning the courthouse’s battery back-up system, which will soon need to be replaced. Mootz said it was purchased five years ago, with about another year of life remaining.

     Schwab said a couple of weeks ago an alarm went off indicating there was a fault in the system.

     Both Schwab and Mootz encouraged the supervisors to consider budgeting for a $5,000 replacement, in which the E911 Board would split the cost.