T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY From left to right, Marshall County Supervisors Steve Salasek and Jarret Heil and County Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson converse during Tuesday morning’s special meeting. Fellow Supervisor Carol Hibbs communicated remotely.

After holding a standalone hearing just over two weeks ago in compliance with the new House File 718 law, the Marshall County Board of Supervisors met in special session on Tuesday morning to formally adopt the budget and certify taxes for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, which begins on July 1, and also approve a reappropriation of funds for the current fiscal year.

Most of the approximately 20 minute meeting, with only county employees and this reporter present, was a mere formality as the board held a series of public hearings with no oral or written comments and subsequently unanimously approved the 2023-2024 budget amendment, 2023-2024 decrease in appropriations 2023-2024 re-appropriation of funds and finally, the FY 2024-2025 budget and taxes.

In explaining the re-appropriation, County Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson noted that the totals for some departments went up, while others went down. The overall dollar amount decreased from $37,039,803 to $36,477,797.

While the meeting was generally light on discussion, Board Chairman Jarret Heil did offer some insight into the budget and tax rates for the upcoming fiscal year, noting that the county saw 6.65 percent growth largely due to increased assessments on existing properties. While those numbers initially struck fear in the hearts of most area property owners, Heil said the state’s rollback helps to limit the subsequent increase in taxes as a result.

The budget for FY 2025 is $41.6 million, the same number as actual spending in FY 2019. Heil noted that after the tornado, expenditures went up to $53.5 million in FY 2020 and $51 million in FY 2021 as the courthouse was being renovated before the number dropped back down to $36.1 million in FY 2022.

The levy rate is dropping from $9.66 per $1,000 of valuation to $9.30 for the upcoming fiscal year, and there was a required reduction in the general basic fund because of the growth.

“Because of our growth, we had to reduce it three percent, and in rural services, because it was a 4 point something percent growth, we had to reduce it two percent,” Heil said. “We could have reduced rural services more, but the way the property tax law is and some things in limbo, uncertainty with what the legislature’s gonna do, we didn’t want to bite off more of the apple than we could have because you don’t want to pull your levers too far down that you can’t level yourselves out if you have to make any changes.”

The total amount of taxes levied is increasing from $15.3 million during the current fiscal year to $15.6 million during the coming year, a 1.9 percent increase despite the decrease in the levy rate. Heil said the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars helped, especially with the sheriff’s office/jail renovations, and department heads “held the line” on expenditures.

“How the property tax law was written by the legislature was (that) if we hold within that 2 ½ to three percent of expenditures, we’ll see taxes go up at a lower rate or go down. That was the direction of the legislature. We operated on that, and that’s how we were able to get to where we are today,” Heil said. “So this is the lowest increase in taxes we’ve had in five years from Marshall County, and our ending fund balances are at 21 percent of expenditures. And that’s well within the 20 to 25 percent recommendation by the state of Iowa.”

Before the meeting concluded, Benson said the leaders of several smaller counties in Iowa are worried about what is to come with more potential changes in store from the state legislature, but Marshall County is in a better position than many. As he previously mentioned, Heil also commented that much of the growth the county saw came from assessment increases, and the focus going forward should be on new growth.

“That new growth is the model that helps keep our taxes low, so I think that’s the key thing is growth, growth, growth. We do that, and it’ll really help things out and continue to (allow us to) provide the services we do here in Marshall County,” he said.

The supervisors were set to meet again in regular session on Wednesday morning at 9 a.m.