Floyd County supervisors set hearing for next fiscal year budget

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Floyd County supervisors got closer to the finish line for fiscal year 2025-26 budget work at their meeting Monday morning, setting the public hearing for the final version of the county budget for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 29.

The supervisors decided – after several weeks of discussion regarding wage increases for various employees and departments – to set maximum hourly pay rates for employees in elected officials’ offices with the discretion up to the elected official whether to award part or all of that maximum.

They hovered over a $25 an hour figure as the maximum for most clerk and secretarial positions, although there was still some discussion about outliers from that.

County Auditor Morrigan Miller said it’s difficult to throw all the county employees that are ostensibly in the same group, such as clerks, into one bucket and try to compare them, because they all have different duties and in some cases different levels of responsibility depending in which office they work.

She said setting a maximum salary and letting the elected officials – the county auditor, recorder, treasurer and sheriff – decide how much of that to pay each employee will put the responsibility on those officials to not just automatically give everyone the maximum.

The elected officials themselves will likely get a 2.75% salary increase.

The board tentatively decided to go with a 6.5% pay increase for the county sheriff, heeding the directives of the state “Back the Blue” law that requires counties to pay sheriffs at the same level as comparable municipal, state and federal law enforcement administrators.

Supervisors acknowledged that increase will still leave Sheriff Jeff Crooks short of the mark, but Supervisor Boyd Campbell said it can be done in steps. Floyd County has for several years since the Back the Blue law went into effect in 2021 been giving the sheriff higher salary increases than other elected officials.

In Floyd County that law has a bigger impact on the county budget because county deputies are paid a percentage of the sheriff’s salary, ranging from slightly over 50% for a new deputy to 80% for the chief deputy.

Supervisor Boyd Campbell had drawn a harsh reaction from Sheriff Crooks when Campbell suggested not replacing a deputy who is going to soon retire, and a new deputy is in the current version of the county budget.

But Campbell, who is in his first year on the board, said department heads need to be aware that, as much trouble as the board had this year deciding fair wages, it could be much worse next year if the state limits counties to no more than a 2% budget increase.

He said they have tried very hard to not have any layoffs this year to cut spending, but that may not be possible in future years with the direction the Legislature is going on property taxes.

The board has decided to begin holding its weekly meetings on Tuesday mornings instead of Mondays, and set the final public hearing on the county’s fiscal year 2025-26 budget for Tuesday, April 29.

Several people had complained about the timing and the difficulty to attend a preliminary budget hearing that had been held at 8:30 a.m. on March 24, so the board decided to begin its regular meeting April 29 at 3 p.m., and hold the budget public hearing at 4:30. The meeting will be in the supervisor boardroom on the ground floor of the courthouse.

The switch from Monday to Tuesday morning regular meetings begins April 22.

Also Monday morning, the supervisors:

• Agreed to end an agreement with Cerro Gordo County for that county to collect delinquent court fees and fines for Floyd County in return for Cerro Gordo keeping 90% of the money collected, and enter an agreement with Benton County for that county to collect the debts and pay Floyd County 50%.

Floyd County Attorney Todd Prichard said it is important that the county have a method for people to make payments on court debts, because if they are making payments they are eligible to get a temporary driver’s license until the debt is repaid.

A mix-up occurred in the agreement with Cerro Gordo County, resulting in people making payments directly to Floyd County, where they were entered into the general fund. Now Cerro Gordo says it is owed $65,000 that it should have received.

• Agreed to let two firms submit bids for the county’s property, liability and worker compensation insurance business, dividing up the potential bidders.

Current agent Mark Melrose of Melrose Insurance Center will submit bids from the current insurer, EMC, and from Travelers, and First MainStreet Insurance/Sisson & Associates will submit bids from Iowa Communities Assurance Pool (ICAP) and Iowa Municipalities Workers Compensation Association (IMWCA).

• Passed proclamations that March is Floyd County Child Abuse Prevention Month and also Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

• Set 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday, May 6, for a public hearing on vacating Apple Lane north of 190th Street, a small section of closed road in the far western part of the county.

• Noted the hiring of a new assistant county attorney, Blake Meyer, who will start July 7 and be replacing Assistant County Attorney Randall Tilton, who plans to retire around the first of July at the end of this fiscal year July 1.

Meyer, a recent Creighton School of Law School, will have a starting salary of $85,000, and his hiring is contingent on him passing the Iowa Bar Examination.