Raises for elected officials, slight tax hike in new Linn County budget

Linn County supervisors adopted a budget this morning that will spend $129.7 million in the year starting July 1.

Adopted on a unanimous voice vote, the plan will raise the countywide levy rate by a nickel, to $6.12 per $1,000 assessed value,  to service debt taken on to restore or replace county buildings damaged in the June 2008 flood and to restore the budget reserve, depleted after the flood, back to 25 percent of total spending.

The rural levy will be $3.71 per $1,000.

Given the flood's lingering effects, “this is a fiscally prudent, conservative budget,” said District 4 Supervisor Brent Oleson. The Republican from Marion said he initially opposed the levy increase, but restoring the reserve means “we've put ourselves in a position next year to not have a levy increase, or even reduce the levy.”

No residents appeared at this morning's final budget hearing to comment on the spending plan.

The budget doesn't include funding for the sheriff's office rescue division, whose $300,000 annual budget fell to the supervisors' new “budgeting for outcomes” process. Sheriff Brian Gardner said he's hopeful he can find alternate funding for the service, which provides paramedic response to rural townships.

“What's done is done,” Gardner said during the meeting's comment period. “I have some other options I'll be discussing with you folks (supervisors), so hopefully this program will not have to go away.”

The new budget also includes raises for supervisors and other elected officials and to the deputies who answer immediately to them. Also a unanimous vote, the supervisors approved the county compensation board's recommendation for 5 percent raises for the sheriff and county attorney and 3.75-percent increases for the auditor, treasurer, recorder, and supervisors.

There have been no raises for the past two years.

District 3 Supervisor Ben Rogers acknowledged the raises, amounting to .007 percent of the total budget, won't be popular.

“Politically it would be nice to say, ‘let's do zero' or ‘let's cut it,' but if you look at it from a numbers perspective it's very little,” said Rogers.