Johnson County communications center budget to be lowered ...

The large tax and spending increases proposed for Johnson County?s joint emergency communications center next fiscal year will be lowered, officials said Friday.

?There?s no question? that will happen, Pat Harney, chairman of the center?s board and a county supervisor, said after a public hearing and meeting on the budget.

The question is how much they will come down.

Last week, the center?s executive director, Gary Albrecht, issued a budget calling for 43 percent more in property taxes and 26 percent more in expenditures for the fiscal year that starts July 1. (The board budgeted $333,366 in cash reserves this year on top of the tax money, which puts the proposed revenue increase at closer to 27 percent rather than 43 percent.)

The budget was met with harsh criticism from some of Harney?s fellow members of the Board of Supervisors, including Rod Sullivan, who attended Friday?s meeting. He said, given the economy, most local governments are calling for flat or slight increases in their budgets.

?The idea that it is even proposed that high is, I think, crazy,? he said.

Terry Dahms of Iowa City agreed.

?I think the public is saying enough is enough,? he told the communications center?s board. ?This increase is amazing. This budget is not acceptable.?

The center, which opened last year, combines dispatchers and radio systems for public safety and emergency medical personnel in the county.

It is run by a seven-member policy board with representatives from the county, Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty and the Johnson County Emergency Management Agency.

Friday?s meeting was the first time those board members met to discuss the budget. They sent it back to Albrecht for him to rework the numbers. They?ll discuss it again at a Nov. 28 meeting.

The main item to be addressed is how much money the center should have in its reserve fund, which is like a savings account.

The current budget calls for $500,000 more in the reserve, which accounts for most of the proposed increase in expenditures from just less than $3 million this fiscal year to nearly $3.8 million next year.

Sullivan said reserves, which are kept for emergencies like if a storm took out some equipment, should be as low as possible. He said the county could quickly bond for those expenses.

The advantage of bonding is the money would come from all taxpayers, whereas reserves in the budget do not include money from tax increment financing districts, which account for nearly $759 million in property valuation in Johnson County.

Iowa City Manager Tom Markus, who was sitting in for City Council member Regenia Bailey on the center?s board, suggested that, given the history of tension between the board and the county?s supervisors, a formal agreement be reached on the bonding issue.

The communications center board also is seeking clarification on $275,000 the county?s E911 board committed to the center for next fiscal year. It?s not clear if that is additional money from what is in the center?s budget now. If it is, the expenditures, and then the tax askings, could be lowered by that amount.

Source: http://thegazette.com/2011/11/18/johnson-county-communications-center-budget-to-be-lowered/

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