Chairperson Stutsman called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:00 a.m. Members present were: Charles Duffy, Jonathan Jordahl, Mike Lehman, Sally Stutsman, and Carol Thompson.

Deputy Administrative Assistant Deana Pillard said because they’re not at the maximum tax levy for Secondary Roads (Department 49) in order to do away with Department 55 (Weed Eradication), they will not be taxing for Department 55. She said they will be taxing for the $247,000 in Department 49 instead. Pillard said if they had kept the $247,000 in Department 55 it would still require the same amount of tax asking. Jordahl asked what relationship is there between this and the fact that the ending balance is now $900,000. Pillard said it doesn’t affect the ending balance. Deputy Auditor Dan Stolze said Department 55 will exactly use up its budget this year and starting next year, Department 55 will be zeroed out and everything will be done out of Department 49. Stolze said after Fiscal Year 2000, Department 55 will not have any money in it. Jordahl asked if this was transferred into Department 49. Stolze said those 2 departments have been intertwined. He said the funds were being spent out of Department 49, and then that amount of expenditure would be shifted over to Weed Eradication. Stolze said this year when they started looking at the budget they decided they didn’t need that department in the budget. Jordahl said historically there used to be a big effort to eradicate weeds in the County, but now because of the environment they are trying to reestablish prairies. Lehman asked if Department 55 was figured against the ending balance in the past. Pillard said yes.

Stutsman said this is the last run through the Board is going to do with the budget spreadsheet and asked Pillard if there was anything else they needed to talk about. Pillard asked if the Board was OK with what is in the budget and if they had new directions. Thompson asked if everything that the Board had agreed to was now in the budget. Stolze said yes. Stolze explained that the numbers in the column labeled Fiscal Year 2001 Budget reflect operating costs, such as salaries and commodities. He said it would not include technology, capital expenditures or capital projects because those are all in separate areas. Thompson said they have a 5.5% increase and a 5.4% increase in the budget just in operating expenses, Stolze agreed.

Jordahl said the total increase for all funds is 7.5 %. He said he would like to see a good correlation of that number to the allowable growth and unusual needs. Stolze said in the General Supplemental Fund they are asking for $47,000 above the allowable growth and unusual needs, and in the Rural Basic Fund they are $15,328 above the unusual needs and allowable growth. Jordahl said this is an important set of numbers and a volatile issue. He said if someone wanted to make political hay, they could go around saying taxes are going up 7.5% when it’s not true. He said their revenues are going up 7.5%, but the taxes are going up around 1% in the General Supplemental and Rural Basic Fund. He said taxes are not going up at all in the General Basic Fund above allowable growth and unusual needs. Stolze said if they were under the property tax freeze, they would have to reduce the General Supplemental Fund and Rural Basic Fund by 47,000 and 15,000 respectively. He said they would not have to reduce the General Basic Fund.

Stolze said with ag land there was a 15% equalization order, but there was also a rollback this year. He said ag land is going to receive an 11% increase regardless of what the Board of Supervisors does with taxes. Jordahl said the utilities didn’t change. Jordahl said there will be a tax increase, but an extremely small one. Thompson said they need to talk about what they are going to tell the public. Jordahl said they start by saying that Johnson County is a growing county, and due to this there are X number of new houses which will be paying taxes for the first time. He said the tax revenues received by those houses make it possible for Johnson County to do some new things. Stutsman said a lot of new construction is not in the rural areas. She said she didn’t want the argument to be made that the Board of Supervisors has to approve all zonings to keep up the tax revenues. She said a lot of the new construction is within the incorporated areas. Jordahl said they need to get statistics. Jordahl said they only raised the tax asking by 47,000 in the General Supplemental Fund and 15,000 in the Rural Fund.

Thompson asked Duffy if there is something he would like to cut out of the budget. Duffy said he has been saying things he wants to cut, but it is like talking to a wall. Jordahl said that goes both ways. Stutsman asked if they are comfortable with the way the budget is presented. Stutsman said they need to clarify how the budget will look to a taxpayer, Thompson agreed. She said farmers are going to ask, why if the Board of Supervisors only raised taxes by one percent, why their bill went up 11.46%. Thompson said they can tell the public about the equalization order, and maybe they will understand, but they might not. Jordahl said they can tell the farmers that the State ordered their taxes to increase by 11%. Stutsman said the Board needs to decide how they want to present the budget and then sit down with the appropriate people and explain that to them. Thompson said they need to talk to the legislators and ask them why the richest people in the County are getting a 3.06% increase, while the farmers, who arguably are not the richest, are getting a 11.46% increase.

Duffy said he would like to see the difference in expenditures from Fiscal Year 2000 compared to the proposed expenditures of Fiscal Year 2001. Jordahl said the total increase in expenditures for Fiscal Year 2001 is $2,793,607. The Board discussed the revenue expense adjustment. Jordahl said they should not hide the fact that they will be receiving more money from taxpayers this year, but they need to be clear about why they are receiving more money from taxpayers. He said much of it is due to the fact of inflation and new construction. Stutsman said she is OK with budget, besides what it is doing to ag, but they don’t have control over that. Stolze said last year there was only a residential rollback, and this year there were quite a bit that weren’t there last year. Jordahl said that has lowered the tax on the same ag land that there was an equalization order.

Thompson asked how many new staff people were in the final draft of the budget. Pillard said the Planning and Zoning Department received one new staff person, the Attorney received one new employee, the Auditor received 2 new staff people, Secondary Roads received one new staff person, Health received one new staff person, and SEATS received one full time employee with the reduction of one half time employee. Thompson asked how the GIS employee was put into the budget. Stutsman and Pillard said they didn’t. Stolze said GIS was in the Technology Fund. Duffy asked if the Board was sure they wanted to do this. Jordahl said absolutely. Stutsman said the way it’s looking she might want to increase the funding. Duffy asked what the totals were for all of the new hires. Pillard said she only had a rough number.

Stutsman asked if there were any other changes the Board wanted to make. She said it has been a good discussion, but thinks they need another work session for the Board to get its thoughts together before the public hearing. Thompson said she would like to have a meeting of the Finance Work Group and then bring a draft document back for the Board to look at. Jordahl agreed. Pillard reminded the Board that once the budget has been published, it can’t be raised, only lowered.

Jordahl said he wanted to talk about increasing the funding for GIS. Duffy and Thompson said they wouldn’t be in favor of increasing the funding for GIS. Lehman said he originally started out in favor of $200,000 for GIS. Jordahl said there were 3 votes for increasing the funding for GIS. Thompson said she thought they made a good decision regarding GIS the previous day. Thompson said they would be creating a large level of bureaucracy. Jordahl said $200,000 would buy them a GIS system that would be up and running at the end of a year. He said what less than that buys them is a protracted situation that can work, but will work slowly. He said they can get bang for the buck this year if they fund $200,000. Stutsman said she was wavering. Jordahl asked why. Lehman said it would be an increase of $37,700. He said they reduced the $200,000 that they had proposed by the cost of the map delineator. Lehman asked if any of the costs of equipment or technology were associated with the costs of the map delineator. Stutsman agreed with Lehman. She said $37,000 would get them back. Jordahl said they were talking about an increase of $62,000. Stutsman said she could agree with that. Duffy reminded Jordahl that they have to answer to the public. Stutsman said they have to balance that with service to the public. Thompson said they are talking about new services that are not required by statute. Jordahl said it was part of the mapping project. Thompson said she will personally find it difficult to explain to some of her friends why they are giving them extra things that they aren’t required by law to provide. Jordahl said it is good to present information in a new way, Thompson said not all people would agree with that. Pillard asked if it was a yes on $62,000 back into GIS. Jordahl said whatever the difference is between the salary of the map delineator and $200,000 is.

Stutsman asked if Pillard talked to department heads who had things taken out of their budget. Pillard said yes. Pillard said the Board approved 8 positions including the GIS Coordinator. Thompson asked about the 1,800 hours of person for GIS. Pillard and Jordahl said that was covered by the map delineator. Jordahl said that was the only argument for putting that person in the Auditor’s Office. Stutsman asked how this year compared with other years. Pillard said this year was similar to last year. Jordahl said this is the kind of thing they should be tracking over multiple years, and Stutsman agreed. Pillard asked if the Board wanted the software for GIS itemized out, or just put into the GIS line item with the Committee determining who would get what software. Jordahl said the Committee and Coordinator should determine who would get what software. Jordahl said the GIS Coordinator would be a position under the Board of Supervisors. Pillard said the Board hasn’t determined the process yet and so far the salary will be lumped into technology.

Pillard asked the Board if they were going to meet at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Stutsman said there was no need to.

Adjourned at 10:26 a.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary