County Supervisors begin work on budget

The Jasper County Board of Supervisors heard the first round of budget requests at its budget workshop Monday. All those who spoke to the board gave recommendations for the budget, with the board making a final decision after reviewing all requests.

Laurie Jackson with Geographic Information Systems starting the workshop maintaining a similar budget as the previous year, with the exception of a $37,000 decrease because of a project that is no longer applicable. Retired Senior Volunteer Program requested additional funding in the amount of $5,000 for $7,500 total to make up for decreased funding from Skiff Medical Center for its transportation program.

“We’re losing some funding from Skiff Medical Center. We were notified back in October that they were going to eliminate or reduce that mileage reimbursement for our program,” Denice Fischer, RSVP representative said.

The supervisors were favorable of the program but wanted to get all of the numbers from the county in before making a final decision.

The supervisors also heard from Veterans Affairs representative Chris Chariter about the increase in veterans and his request to hire another employee to the department. The Veterans Board still has to meet on the subject, and the supervisors wanted to wait on its decision and final numbers for assigning any money.

Larry Ryan, from planning and zoning, had no substantial changes to his budget but reported the previous year the county received $62,784 in permit revenue.

Changes to the domestic violence coverage in Jasper County were covered by Nancy Robertson, of the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She also requested $2,000 for its yearly budget. Now regional, 12 counties are covered by the service, with Newton’s office, located at the United Way. Robertson explained the service has worked toward more prevention programs rather than only reactive services. She also said whatever money the program receives from the county will stay in Jasper County. In past years, no money has been given, but $2,500 has been approved.

The Home Health Care, Environmental Health and Board of Health programs presented a budget that is very similar to past years, but did explain that it was working to become more efficient to save more money. Dennis Simon, of Human Resources, did not have exact numbers, but believed the budget would hold equal to past years, with the biggest increase coming from a 2.5 percent wage increase estimate. He also requested the board lower the labor relations budget by $1,000 from past years experience. In terms of safety spending, he requested an increase of $800 to help with training beyond CPR and First Aid.

County Recorder Denise Allan concluded the workshop with the recorders office budget, which maintained a similar request as last year.

The board will hear from additional programs at its regular Tuesday meeting before making any decisions on the annual budget.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-791-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com