Humboldt, IA – The budget still a work in progress for Humboldt County and the Board of Supervisors.
On Monday, Feb. 10th, the Board of Supervisors met for their regularly scheduled meeting to discuss the budget for the coming fiscal year. The largest part of the discussion was how best to spends funds on a new storage building primarily for the Sheriff’s office but for other areas in the county as well. While the board agreed a new building was important, a lot of discussion was spent on how best to fund the building without a large sum to the general basic fund.
One option suggested by Board Member David Lee was to have a smaller building built that covers the basic need for now and have it built by the Building Trades program. Concerns brought forward over this idea were uncertainty of needed space based on evidence needing to be stored. Board Member Sandy Loney has concerns about short term savings leading to more costly spending in the future.
The Board also discussed the idea of having the Sheriff’s office share a space currently being used by Secondary Roads. Loney had concerns over potential damages occurring to important evidence due to lack of environmental control in the building. This concern was seconded by Officer Lampe who checked in during the conversation.
County Auditor Peggy Rice brought up the idea of raising the levy but the Board of Supervisors quickly voiced to have it not be a drastic increase. Board Chair Erik Underberg asked Rice look into all options to fund a new storage facility.
For now the building will not be in the budget for the coming fiscal year as the auditor’s office looks for other sources of funding.
The other large portion of the budget will be the new radio system for emergency services. The radios are a priority for the county moving forwards. Rice says all options for funding are getting explored and have yet to place them on the budget at the time.
Items set on the budget for the coming fiscal year include a onetime sum of $5,000 for the Day Care Center to help build a new play structure. A onetime sum has also been approved for the Recorders office for a new computer program, the amount still not set but estimated to be below $20,000.
911 Services and the Sheriff’s office are also contributing to software updates for their offices. 911 will be contributing a share of over $200,000 and the Sheriff’s office will be contributing $35,000.
Upgrade manage care with Solutions has also been placed on the budget but has no set amount yet. This would be technology help for the County office.
The county budget is not a final until approved by the Board of Supervisors later in March. The budget has to be submitted by the end of the month and approved by the Board of Supervisors by the end of March per state regulations.