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CEDAR RAPIDS — With a phone connection from a traveling Supervisor Stacey Walker that gave out before the final vote was taken, the next Linn County budget that sets property tax rates and gives raises to elected officials was approved Wednesday after one of the only two supervisors participating in that vote agreed to switch from dissenting to supporting the spending plan.
If Republican Supervisor Louie Zumbach had not supported the new budget, the current fiscal 2022 budget would have continued — without the changes. Democratic Supervisor Ben Rogers said he appreciated the change from his colleague.
“I’m glad we avoided a stalemate today because if today’s budget didn’t pass, and this year’s budget would be next year’s budget, that’s the calamity,” Rogers said. “We wouldn’t be able to cover our payroll increases for all of our staff, inflation, etc. I really appreciate Louie noting his objection but supporting the budget overall.”
Linn County Supervisor Louie Zumbach sits Feb. 11 for a portrait at his home office in Coggon. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
The final vote was taken after all three supervisors, with Democrat Walker calling in, had already approved raises for elected officials. Supervisors voted 2-1 to raise Sheriff Brian Gardner’s salary by 7 percent and the rest of the county elected official’s salaries — including their own — by 4.84 percent
The amounts approved were less than what the county compensation board had recommended last month — 11.56 percent for the sheriff, and 8 percent for other elected officials.
Zumbach opposed the raises as still too much.
“If this was my private company, I wouldn’t have approved that large of raises,” he said. “We’re using money against next year’s budget. Granted, it’s being absorbed by departments not having full rosters.”
When the fiscal 2023 budget starts July 1, the new salaries are:
- Supervisors, auditor, treasurer, recorder: $124,967 a year
- County attorney: $199,711
The sheriff’s increase is higher due to the “Back the Blue” act — Senate File 342 — passed by the Iowa Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2021.
The law requires county compensation boards to approve a rate “comparable to salaries paid to professional law enforcement administrators and command officers of the state patrol, the Division of Criminal Investigation of the department of public safety, and city police chiefs employed by cities of similar population to the population of the county.” In Cedar Rapids, Police Chief Wayne Jerman earns $178,225 annually.
But after the vote on the salaries was taken, Walker’s call was dropped and he did not participate in the final vote — leaving his two peers to decide themselves on the overall budget.
In Linn County, the number of members on the Board of Supervisors has changed twice in the last two decades. It increased from three to five elected board members in 2006, and decreased back down to three in 2016. The latter change was led by citizens upset that supervisor salaries were too high and that there was no check to see how the officials were using their time.
During the budget presentation Wednesday, Walker’s phone call dropped as he was on his way back to Iowa from a trip to Antarctica, which was not related to any county business.
After landing in Orlando, Walker told The Gazette he was initially scheduled to be on the ground there to participate by phone in the vote but there were complications with the flight schedule.
“Nothing I can do about it. I wish I was able to participate but I wasn’t,” Walker said. He said he would’ve voted yes to approve the budget if there.
Zumbach said he had planned to vote against the budget — because of the raises — if Walker had been there.
“If there were three of us, I would’ve been a ‘no’ on the budget based on the salaries. But to grandstand there with two people is wrong,” Zumbach said.
So with the 2-0 vote, Linn County approved its $154.8 million budget for 2023. That is an increase of 18 percent partly due to disbursement of federal American Rescue Plan Act aid. The budget also reflects a state law that eliminates the property tax levy charged for mental health and disability services levy, with the state picking up the expense instead.
Linn County residents can expect the countywide levy rate to be reduced to $5.85 per $1,000 in taxable value in fiscal 2023, down from the current $6.24 rate. Rural residential rates remain unchanged at $2.71 per $1,000 in taxable value.
Commercial and industrial property taxes also decrease 6.3 percent, and farm taxes increase 1.3 percent.
With those rates, the county will bring in $75.5 million from taxes, a decrease of 2.9 percent. The county’s overall revenue budget, including from other sources, is $148.1 million, an increase of 18.4 percent. The county’s revenue sources include 49 percent from property taxes, 36 percent labeled as intergovernmental, 6 percent for charges for services and 6 percent from other taxes.
The county’s local-option sales tax revenue shows $3.6 million for road construction, $1.7 million for conservation projects and $1.5 million for property tax relief for rural residents.
“We’ve maintained our fiscal strength and financial resiliency through COVID-19 and through the post-derecho phase as well as the current state of the larger economy,” Rogers said. “Linn County residents will see a decrease in what they pay to the county.”
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