Johnson County supervisors approve $144 million budget

IOWA CITY - The Johnson County Board of Supervisors on Thursday unanimously approved a $144.1 million budget for fiscal year 2022, which includes $11.2 million for capital projects and $8 million in support for nonprofits, service agencies and governmental agencies.

That compares to estimated expenditures of $158.9 million this fiscal year.

Other highlights of the new budget, presented to the board during the March 16 budget hearing by county finance administrator Dana Aschenbrenner, include:

' $5.8 million in road construction and maintenance projects.

' $1.1 million in funding to support the new GuideLink Center.

' $1.1 million for emergency communications upgrades.

' $680,000 for affordable housing initiative.

' $850,000 for improvements to the Sutliff Bridge area, including a new parking lot, restrooms and signage.

' $1.6 million for projects and operations at the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm, which now has community gardens.

'We've got some things rolling out in the poor farm area that we think are important,” Aschenbrenner said.

The tax rate for urban areas is set at $6.30 per $1,000 in taxable valuation and $10.07 per $100,000 of taxable value for rural areas, which includes a $3.77 rural tax levy. Most of the rural tax goes to maintaining secondary roads but also supports items such as animal control and library programs.

Aschenbrenner said during the March 16 meeting that the countywide tax levy is down 4.4 cents and has decreased over the last four fiscal years.

Since fiscal 2011, the tax rate is down 92 cents, he said.

'I think the board has done a really good job of managing our countywide tax levy rate so as to not shock our taxpayers,” he said.

County residents' overall tax bill will depend on where they live and what school district they are part of.

For example, an Iowa City resident in the Iowa City Community School District will have a total tax levy of about $38.50 per $1,000 of taxable value, Aschenbrenner said. A Solon resident will have a tax rate of about $35 per $1,000.

The board on Thursday also increased the recommended minimum wage in the county to $10.75 per hour as of July 21. The increase is symbolic because state lawmakers prevent jurisdictions from setting a minimum wage higher than the state minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

'We continue to encourage Johnson County businesses to support this and increase their employee wage to $10.75 on July 1,” Supervisors Chairman Pat Heiden said in a statement. 'We appreciate the many area businesses that continue to honor the recommended wage. It benefits workers and our community.”

The supervisors also extended the countywide public health disaster emergency to May 31, which includes a mask mandate.

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