Greene Co Engineer Wade Weiss (right) presents the Secondary Roads budget

The Greene County Board of Supervisors met Monday in regular session.

During open forum, Greene County Sheriff and Jefferson Fire Chief Jack Williams requested a letter of support from the Board for a Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation grant application for an 8,000 gallon tanker truck. Williams said the truck would be used county-wide and stored at the bus barn on the Greene County Fairgrounds. The average for the current tanker trucks is about 1,500-1,800 gallons and a used vehicle is $130,000. The Board agreed to consider approving a letter in a future meeting.

County Attorney Thomas Laehn addressed the Board about a new 28E agreement from Central Iowa Community Services mental health region. He said the agreement is to make Franklin County the fiscal agent and handle human resources services. Laehn had issues with some of the provisions that the state requires for 28E agreements that the proposed one did not have. He recommended the Board not approve the agreement until those issues were addressed. The Board took no action following the discussion, as no formal agreement was presented.

The Board then approved the Iowa Wages Publication as presented and set a public hearing for February 7th at 9am for a budget amendment for the current fiscal year. Auditor Jane Heun mentioned the highlights of the increased revenues were from additional tax increment financing funds and local option sales and services tax, along with a pass-through grant from the Board of Health. Some of the expenses included overtime pay, roof repair to the Greene County Courthouse, purchasing a new ambulance, and bridge repair on the Raccoon River Valley Trail. 

Finally, the Board heard a 2023 fiscal year budget proposal from Weiss and the Secondary Roads Department. He proposed no increase to the property tax asking and is estimating $7,305,086 for revenues. As for expenses, Weiss mentioned a seven-percent increase for himself as well as the Assistant to the County Engineer Tanner Stauffer and a ten-percent salary increase for Office Manager Sherry Graven. However, with those increases and the fact that the technician position isn’t going to be replaced, the salary increases ended up being an overall six-percent decrease. The expected expenses for next fiscal year are $7,305,086. The Board took no action following the request.