MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
JANUARY 27, 2005
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne and Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center Director Misha Goodman: Costs for Animal Control and Status of 28e Agreement with Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center 1
Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne: Monthly Report for December, 2004 and Consolidation of County Funds. 3
Discussion: Making a Second Appointment on Decat................................................................ 5
Minutes Received: East Central Iowa Council of Governments for November 23, 2004............... 5
Reports and Inquiries from the Board of Supervisors................................................................. 5
Chairperson Stutsman called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:56 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne explained that the County currently has a 28E Agreement with the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center. The agreement has a schedule fee for services. Most County cases are animal impounds which are $100 a piece. The Care Center divides their cases into three entities that they bill: Iowa City, Coralville, and the County. The County is billed for all animal impounds outside of Iowa City and Coralville. In Fiscal Year 2005 the County budgeted $36,000. Year to date there have been 586 County impoundments and billings of $58,600. Horne said that a lot of the impoundments are from abandoned cats and kittens turned over to the Shelter by residents. Horne said that they’ve discussed changing the 28E Agreement due to the growth in North Liberty and Tiffin that could be affecting the contract.
Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center Director Misha Goodman explained that she bills the County in arrears. She said that they’ve consistently had additional animals coming in from all areas. This is due to more population, more animals, lack of local programs to assist people getting their animals spayed or neutered, and vaccinated. She said that when animals come in that are severely ill and have to be euthanized, it is a large bill for the County, which could be avoided by having vaccination clinics for lower income individuals.
Neuzil asked if animals are tracked as to what city they came from when they are brought to the shelter. Goodman said that they can set up their report any way they want. She said that a couple of years ago they made an attempt to bill the individual cities in the County, but it didn’t go over well. She said that most of the County animals that are coming from the smaller cities are coming from Hills, Solon, Tiffin, and North Liberty. Neuzil explained that the County budgets using a Rural Fund and a General Fund. He said that if they could calculate where the animals are coming from they might have a better chance of identifying where the dollars should be spent. Horne explained that currently the County pays the Shelter out of the General Fund. Goodman said that she has spoken with their Information Technology individuals about writing a report for the County that could track where the animals are coming from and what kind of animals they are. Goodman said that there used to be a fund to have animals spayed and neutered at low cost for lower income individuals. She said that the fund is now dry. Goodman said that it is important for the County and smaller cities to consider applying for grants for opportunities for low income residents so that there isn’t a population growth happening with cats and dogs.
Harney said that a lot of the animals that the County is being billed for are probably from the City and dropped off in the County. He asked if there are records for who is bringing in the animals. Goodman said that they know very well the few chronic individuals who claim that they continue to find litters of kittens and puppies. Goodman said that they do their best to set those people up with veterinarians who will go out to those areas and do a mass spay and neuter. Goodman said that there are some citizens who continue to breed, for the sake of breeding, and then don’t maintain the animals and bring them to the Shelter. Goodman said that some claim ownership, but many don’t. She said that the County people say that the City people dump their animals in the county and vice versa. Goodman said that it is probably a little bit of both. Goodman explained that the Iowa City Animal Center is the only shelter in the area; therefore the County and Cities have to be willing to recognize that the facility is necessary and work together to reduce the numbers of animals that are coming in.
Lehman said that the Shelter does a lot of advertising and offers a lot of programs. He said that he doesn’t know what the remedy is to make people aware that there are avenues to prevent pets from reproducing. Goodman said that it is a combination of having programs available for people to use, but there are those individuals who will breed their pets because they want to. Goodman suggested that there be legislation that promotes responsible pet ownership. She said that Iowa City has increased its fees for unaltered animals and now issues permits for breeders. She said that these things are difficult in the County because there isn’t an enforcement agency to make sure that these are happening.
Harney agreed that they have to deal with the problem. He asked Goodman to elaborate on the $100 cost per animal. Goodman said that the national average for the general care of a dog every day in a center is $6, which includes staff wages, water, electricity, food, and care. The national average for the care of a cat is $3.50. Some animals will be adopted or reclaimed by their owners. The County has the worst reclaim rate of any of the areas. Iowa City’s reclaim rate is 99%. Many of the County animals are more difficult to adopt out because they’ve been farm animals. She said that the recoup of costs isn’t happening with County animals like it does with the cities. Goodman said that the animal center doesn’t make any money on the animals that come in. Goodman suggested that Johnson County issue licenses. She said that it is something that the Animal Center could do for the County. Another option, which they recommend in addition to licenses is microchip identification. Stutsman asked how licensure would be enforced in the County. Goodman said that in the County if an animal runs loose it can be shot, so most people would want a tag.
Goodman asked the Board to figure out exactly what kind of tracking they want so that she can create reports. Neuzil said that if the County is providing the service for all of the smaller cities they need to understand where the funding is coming from. He asked how other counties deal with animal centers. He asked why Coralville and Iowa City pay for their animals but the County pays for all other animals. R. Sullivan said that if something is happening in Solon, Swisher, or Hills the residents of those municipalities should pay those costs. Goodman said that State Code requires that if there is not an animal control agency, the law enforcement agency handles the public safety in terms of animals. She explained that’s where it ends up falling upon the Sheriff’s Department in the County. Neuzil said that the Sheriff might be able to recoup some costs in the law enforcement contracts with the cities. Stutsman said that if they start budgeting for animal control out of the Rural Fund then it would only cover the unincorporated areas. Neuzil said that because the citizens of Iowa City and Coralville are already paying, and the County is paying for animal control out of the General Fund, the citizens of Iowa City and Coralville are being double taxed. R. Sullivan said that it should come out of the Rural Fund and the Animal Control Center should have separate contracts with the other cities. Stutsman said that could cause more dumping of animals in the rural area. Lehman said that there might be support from some of the smaller communities for animal licensure.
Goodman said that Johnson County has had a number of large scale puppy mills move in. She explained that the State of Missouri strengthened their laws on puppy mills, therefore Iowa has had a large increase in them. The Board agreed to keep investigating the issue and discuss it at a later date after receiving more numbers from the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center. The Board agreed to put the issue on the Joint Meeting with Small Cities agenda. The Board suggested that the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center have a presence at the County Fair.
Horne explained that December marks the halfway point of Fiscal Year 2005. Expenses and revenues should be at 50%. Most departments have done a good job staying within budget on expenses and revenues are slightly down. The following is a summary of departments that have items of note:
Sheriff (Department #08) – The Sheriff’s Department is right on target with its expenditures, having expended 49% of budget through December. For the first six months of Fiscal Year 2005, the bill for out of country prisoner transport was $233,940, which would come out to $467,880. This would be $67,880 over budget, however the high counts early in the Fiscal Year seem to have tapered off and if those stay steady the County could possibly complete the Fiscal Year without an amendment.
Medical Examiner (Department #10) – The Medical Examiner is at 63% of expenditures through December, but is also at 64% of revenues year to date. A budget amendment should be offset this year with additional revenue generated by the department.
Recorder (Department #11) – The Recorders Office has collected 60% of its revenue budget year to date. This is still above target, but less than the 100% of budget which the department reached at the same time last year. As interest rates move up, there could be a more dramatic drop-off in mortgage activity because of the discount effect caused by prolonged low rates. The low rates in effect moved up many homebuyers, so the industry was basically realizing future revenues in the present.
Conservation (Department #24) – Conservation has expended 55% of its budget. Much of this is attributed to some additional use of part time wages, and a variety of smaller line items including pesticides, cellular phones, and postage. Revenues have also been above budget, but the Board has traditionally transferred all revenues to the Conservation Trust at the end of the Fiscal Year.
Secondary Roads (Department #49) – Secondary Roads is well under budget, having only expended 39% year to date. There can be some surge expected because of weather conditions in January, but Horne will examine the fund balance near the end of the year to see if any projects could be moved up for Fiscal Year 2006.
Horne explained that the County is expecting and budgeting full funding for State tax credits and replacements for Fiscal Year 2006. The tax base for the County grew 3.7% and crossed the $4 billion mark for the first time. The value of TIF districts countywide is now $439,161,009. Horne will be attending the Government Finance Officers Association meeting in San Antonio in June. He is dedicating the majority of his continuing education credits towards performance measures and scoring performance of various services. There will also be seminars on shared services and economic development that he plans on attending.
Horne said that Johnson County has many more funds than what is required by law. The County has a Technology Fund, Capital Expenditures Fund, a Road Constructions Escrow Account, Special Revenues Fund, Prosecutor Forfeiture Fund, and the SIH Consortium Trust. Horne said that the outside auditor has recommended that the County consolidate funds because Johnson County has more funds than a lot of the larger Counties in Iowa. Horne said that he would like to get the Board’s permission to start consolidating some of the funds. Horne said that in the Technology and Capital Expenditures funds he would be moving the costs back to the departments. Horne said that it won’t have a major effect on the way the County handles business and he will keep a special spreadsheet to track encumbrances. Stutsman said that the reason the special funds were created was because they didn’t have a mechanism to track them. She said that she is OK with consolidation now that the County has a Budget Coordinator that can monitor them. R. Sullivan said that he is concerned that if the funds are given back to the departments, a department head might spend the money on something other than what it was intended for. Horne said that if that were to happen he would bring it to the Board’s attention. The Board agreed to let Horne start phasing in the consolidation of funds through the budget process.
Stutsman explained that there is a need to appoint another Supervisor to the Decategorization Board. The Board agreed to appoint Neuzil at a future formal meeting.
Minutes were received from the East Central Iowa Council of Governments for November 23, 2004.
Neuzil will be having a listening post at the Senior Center on January 28, 2005 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Lehman attended the Chatham Oaks Board of Directors meeting, the Louisa and Washington County Planning hearings, a liaison meeting with County Engineer Greg Parker, a Resource Conservation and Development meeting, and the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors meeting.
R. Sullivan attended a liaison meeting with County Engineer Greg Parker, a liaison meeting with Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak, a liaison meeting with Information Services Director Jean Schultz, and the Joint Cities meeting,
Harney attended a meeting regarding the upcoming Chamber of Commerce Trip to Washington D.C., the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce Banquet, a Military Affairs meeting, and an Emergency Management meeting.
Stutsman met with the National Guard regarding preliminary plans for the new Armory, a State County Case Management Services Board meeting, an ISAC meeting, a meeting with the Northern Border Pipeline, and a Joint Cities meeting. Stutsman said that there will be a Johnson-Linn County Leadership Summit on February 8, 2005 at 4:30 at Howard R. Green in Cedar Rapids.
Adjourned at 11:00 a.m.
/s/ Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary