News : Supervisors address Local Kiwanis

Vinton Kiwanis hosted two of the Benton County Supervisors a few weeks ago. Tracy Seeman and Ron Tippett who spoke to the group discussing some of the county budget with the group.

Seeman shared first that this year, the supervisors froze raises across the board for county employees and tried to look at budgets more closely to see if anything could be trimmed. He said that one of the organizations that the county helps is ECICOG (East Central Iowa Council of Governments). He explained that the county paid the organization $18,260 last year but in return, ECICOG helps to apply for grants.

ECICOG helped write the application that brought the Atkins Round House about winning the county a $750,000 grant for the project. This project cleared damaged trees from the Dereco and then replanted 250 hardwood trees in the area.

He also shared a list of all the levies that come out of the property tax bill each year. Serman said that the cost associated with property taxes isn't the fault of the county as much as it is all of the levies that are included. He explained that every time a new levy is passed, it goes onto your tax bill.

Seeman reported that the county has grown by 2.5%, not in population but in tax revenue from new construction.

He said that the county can also use more volunteers to fill board positions, these are unpaid, but there is still a need for good quality people to help run the various aspects in the county. A new law passed was effective January 1, 2026, "I'm hoping we won't have too many of these," he said. The law allows construction of new homes on existing homesteads that can be used to house loved ones so that relatives can take care of elderly or sick relatives. These can be done without land use changes. The building  can only be 1,000 square feet or 50% of the size of the existing house already located on the property. The septic system would have to be brought up to code.

Tippett discussed the Iowa laws that are passed along to the counties and how the expense of new laws are passed down to the counties. He also spoke about the benefits of the money that is given to HACAP each year. He said that they are able to buy truckloads of food to feed Benton County Residents. HACAP, he said, also helps to repair homes, helping 37 families last year. The program helps to repair furnaces and works to winterize homes saying that "we get a tremendous payback on that...10 times what we piut in the program we get paid back."

He also shared some of the larger expenses, like the new communcations system that the county added benefitting law enforcement, EMS, fire departments. The maintenance agreement alone is $240,000 each year.

He said we've had more than our share of workman's comp claims, Citing ISAC, Iowa State Association of Counties, ( this should be Heartland Insurance- who covers workman’s comp/lawsuit settlements and property damage claims etc.) he said that the county has to put in $250,000 over three years to cover these costs. He said right now there is $67-68,000 remaining in the fund and next year the fund will have to be boosted to $400,000. He said it makes it challenging.

Tippett said that the amount spent by the county will remain the same. He explained that in the budget, there is the basic fund, the rural basic fund, and these are figured by the percantage allowed by the growth...then he explained that he doesn't understand it 100% but he's trying.

He also discussed farm ground and how it's taxed due to it's productivity, something he said that Farm Bureau helped to create, and it's considered the "fair way of doing it."

He explained that the Sheriff and Secondary Roads Departments will be the only ones to see raises due to contract agreements with their unions. He said that a few years ago the county went outside the contract and gave these two departments a larger increase so the supervisors sent a letter asking them to not increase wages this year, but the county hasn't heard back.

The supervisors also discussed health insurance premiums in the county and how the county received a 4% discount for preventative actions taken by the employees. The premiums didn't change this year. Dental went up 1.6% (about .60 per pay period) and the premium for the $25,000 life insurance policy stayed the same. He went on to explain that

-employees have a 50/50 split with eyeglasses and dental

-healthcare its a 80/20 split with the county picking up 80% of the employee premiums

Tippett said in all, county employees receive about $22,000 in benefits

He noted that ISAC made an error in the calculations of the health insurance premiums this year, shorting themselves, but the county will be allowed to keep the lower premiums. He felt that the employees receive generous benefits not havin a wage hike shouldn't affect the employees too much.