Johnson County will miss deadline to pay state; Legislature asked to change bill

IOWA CITY – Johnson County will intentionally miss a deadline to send the state a $1 million rebate that proposed legislation says is necessary to receive millions of dollars in funding for mental-health and disability services.

County supervisors said Tuesday they believed the deadline was unenforceable but were unsure if that view would cost the county a chance at additional money. However, a state official said she expects that Johnson County will be OK and that legislators are being encouraged to address the matter.

At issue is a $1 million rebate the county must pay in order to receive $4 million under the funding formula in a bill that covers the state's health and human services budget for next fiscal year. That bill, House File 649, sets a June 1 deadline for the rebate to be made.

The bill, however, is among the money issues currently caught in a budget stalemate between statehouse Democrats and Republicans, including Gov. Terry Branstad.

“It's not a law,” was how Johnson County Supervisor Janelle Rettig put it simply.

The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to reaffirm a decision made last week not to send the $1 million check to the Iowa Department of Human Services. Instead, it has sent DHS a letter saying it would comply with the rebate language in the legislation once it becomes law.

The funding formula in the bill requires counties that had more than 10 percent of their mental-health and disabilities budgets in reserves two years ago to send the difference back to the state to be eligible for additional funding.

For Johnson County, that comes out to a little more than $1 million to be rebated in order to get $4 million. If the bill becomes law and the county doesn't send that money, Johnson County stands to get only $413,000, which will result in major service cuts, said Kris Artley, the county's mental health/disability services director.

Sally Titus, DHS deputy director, told SourceMedia Group Tuesday afternoon that legislative leaders have been made aware of the issue and she expects them to resolve it at some point.

“We don't believe at this juncture that this is a controversial issue for them,” she said. “I can't speak for them, but there's no reason to think they won't address the date.”

Titus said it's believed about 20 counties would be affected by the rebate provision.

Artley said DHS officials have been saying the June 1 deadline must be met but the checks won't be cashed.

At their morning meeting, the supervisors questioned how they could be told to do something that wasn't law. They also said they were reluctant to send the state $1 million with no guarantee they'd get the money back should the bill change.

Board Chairman Pat Harney and Sally Stutsman casting the dissenting votes, saying they were more concerned about possibly losing out on the $4 million and the service cuts for people with mental-health and developmental disabilities that would result.

They too spoke unfavorably of the state government, however. Stutsman said she was “totally aghast” at the situation the county was put in.

“How do they expect us to do something just on blind faith?” she said.