The Greene County Board of Supervisors met Thursday.

During open forum, Supervisor Chair John Muir briefly mentioned the possibility of implementing a six month moratorium on solar farms. County Environmental Administrator Chuck Wenthold said he received at least two additional calls from entities inquiring about installing a solar farm. Muir said by doing a moratorium, it would also give them time to draft an ordinance about solar farms. The Board took no action.

The Board then acted separately on their salary increase recommendation from the County Compensation Board. The Compensation Board recommended an eight percent raise for each supervisor and instead the Board approved seven-percent. The vote was 4-1 with Supervisor Tom Contner voting no. Later in the meeting, Contner mentioned he would pay back the salary increase. The Board also voted 4-1, with Contner voting no, to approve the rest of the recommendations for elected county official salary raises, including 15-percent for sheriff and attorney, ten-percent for treasurer and auditor and eight-percent for recorder. Contner agreed with the 15-percent recommendation for sheriff and attorney, but wanted to give seven-percent to the rest. By Iowa Code, if the Supervisors lower a salary recommendation for one elected position, they have to lower the rest by that same percentage, except for the supervisors, which can be done separately.

The Board also set February 28th at 9am for the maximum property tax levy rate. It is proposed that the Board will raise more money for the next fiscal year when asking for less in property taxes, due to higher land valuations, but the increase in raised funds will exceed the maximum of two-percent monies raised compared to the current fiscal year. Following the hearing, the Board must have at least four votes in favor of the rate increase.