IOWA CITY

Jon Green, a Johnson County Supervisor who is a Lone Tree resident, is taking a stand as the county considers requests for its Fiscal Year 2025 budget.

In the first round of line-item voting Feb. 14, Green voted multiple times against adding a full-time position in requests by different departments and often was the only supervisor to do so. He did support positions that are funded by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

“Until we have a better grasp of the revenue side of the ledger, I can’t support adding permanent staff,” Green told The News. “I look around at surrounding counties and see budget cuts, hiring freezes and reductions in services offered. I don’t want that in Johnson County.

“And so instead of hiring more people into positions we may not be able to afford long term, asking folks to do more with less and with the uncertainty that we will be able to sustain those positions, I’d rather ask the people we have today to do more, with more. We’re going to give a cost-of-living adjustment that’s meaningful and we will have revenue for merit increases, as well,” Green said.

Green is extending that strategy to himself. He is supporting proposed pay increases for the sheriff and county attorney, but is pitching no annual raises for supervisors and other elected officials.

“The past year has been grueling for us supervisors, especially with turnover in two key positions requiring all of us to step up in day-to-day operational ways that hasn’t been the case in 20 years,” Green said. “I think we’ve earned a raise, but when things are tight I also believe leadership should be the first to go without. I’d rather see those dollars go to folks on the front line.”

Supervisor Chair Rod Sullivan supports raises of 3.75%, the same as other county employees. A proposal calls for 4% raises for elected officials.

The Feb. 14 work session was the first step in a budget process that is scheduled to end with a final vote March 5. A second round of decisions is set for this week, Feb. 21.

Among the biggest cuts in the first round of voting was more than $1 million in proposals from the Conservation Department, including $475,000 for a pair of restrooms at Two Horse Park.

Sullivan recommended, and the rest of the supervisors agreed, to add a line item of $100,000 to help out food pantries in Iowa City, North Liberty and Coralville.

The county’s FY24 spending budget, which ends June 30, topped $146 million.

Courthouse Update

Renovations at the County Courthouse in Iowa City are in the early stages of a five-year, five-phase plan.

An estimated $500,000 reconstruction project for the third level of the courthouse is expected to go out for bids in early March with completion of that phase completed by the end of 2024, per Neumann Monson Architects.

An update was presented to the Board at its Feb. 14 work session.

Additionally, nearly $710,000 in new furniture has been budgeted for remodels at the Administration and HHS buildings at the Iowa City campus. Still to be determined is which offices will get new furniture and which will utilize current furniture.

“I think we also want to lead by example a little bit,” Sullivan said of the County Supervisors space. “I would much rather have the Board have less nice things and let other offices and departments have it first.”

The timeline includes October move-in dates.

Roadwork Bidding

Bid-letting for Johnson County’s seal coat and dust-control programs are scheduled for 9 a.m. March 12.

Up to 20 miles of roads are seal coated in a typical year.

Board Action

The Board approved a number of ARPA Community Food and Farm Grant Program agreements totaling more than $280,000. Among them are $25,000 grants to Andale Catina, Africando Foods, Da Flava Unit; Street-Meat-Eats, Grimm Family Farm, Berry Basket Farm, and Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development.

The Board approved Building Nonprofit Capacity Grant Program agreements, totaling $658,000, with the Domestic Violence Intervention Program and Iowa City Community Theatre.

The Board approved obtaining a membership with Iowa Travel Industry Partners, at an annual cost of $1,000.

Next meeting: The Board’s next formal session is at 9 a.m. Feb. 22.