New budget procedure begins this year
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Cities and counties are now required to take additional steps for their budget approval process as part of new legislation passed last year.
All property owners or taxpayers in the county will receive a budget statement from the county auditor at the end of March, as part of changes coming from House File 718, (HF 718).
Each city or county must also file a report by March 15 with the Department of Management that contains all the information needed for the budget statements.
An additional public hearing about the proposed property tax amounts and information in the budget statements will be held, where residents and property owners may present oral or written objections.
Details about the date, time and place of the public hearing will be printed on the budget statements.
The budget certification date was pushed back to April 30 to allow time to implement these changes.
The Ringgold County Board of Supervisors have begun the process of meeting with department heads and committee chair persons, holding ongoing budget workshops to discuss monetary requests for fiscal year 2025 (FY25).
Leesa Lester, representing the Southern Iowa Trolley, kicked off the budget discussions on Monday, January 15. She met with the supervisors by phone to discuss funding for FY 25.
On Tuesday, January 16 the supervisors met with Kelly Butts representing the Connections Area Agency on Aging in the morning. In the afternoon, the board heard FY25 requests from Ringgold county fair board president Mike Wimer, and conservation director Travis Scott.
The supervisors returned on Wednesday, January 17 to meet with MATURA Action Corporation executive director, Dana Bulls, regarding their FY25 budget requests.
They also met with Ringgold County Recorder, Kisha Martin, Beth Waddle representing SICOG, and County Attorney Clint Spurrier in separate FY25 budget workshop sessions.
Additionally, they reviewed a FY25 funding request from Michelle Wilson with the Southern Iowa Resource Conservation.
On Thursday, January 18 the board held five more FY 25 budget workshop sessions starting with Becky Fletchall representing public health, general assistance, mental health, and environmental health. While public health is asking for additional money to provide general assistance, less money is being requested for other expense areas to help balance the request.
Veterans Affairs Administrator, Hannah Saville, and Commissioner Cathy Kilgore were the next to meet with the supervisors regarding the FY 25 budget for their department.
The supervisors also met with historical preservation commission members Korbie Rinehart, Skylar Burdette, and Gary Scott, as well as Bob Swanson, who represented the historical society.
EMA and E911 director Melissa Stark and treasurer, Debbie Cannon, also had budget workshop sessions for their respective departments.
The supervisors continued FY25 budget workshop meetings through Friday, January 19, starting the day with a 2-hour session for county engineer, Jared Johnson, P.E.
Rachel Worthington representing the Family Resource Center in Mount Ayr, and Larry McNutt representing Diagonal Daycare also held brief budget workshop sessions with the supervisors for FY25. The day ended with a 2-hour budget workshop session with county sheriff, Rob Haley.
Budget workshops for FY 25 continued on Monday, January 22 beginning with Ringgold County Development Corporation (RCDC) director Jodie Geist and board members Dick Elliott and Morgan Waldeier.
The group collectively thanked the board of supervisors for past contributions, noting that they have been able to proactively develop important connections thanks to having a full-time director the past three years.
“We are in a position now to be able to help somebody, we haven’t always had that,” stated Dick Elliott, “I would like to see that continue.”
Chanelle Cole also met with the supervisors in the afternoon to discuss the FY25 budget for supportive services.
The board of supervisors will meet again Monday, January 29 in regular session, then go back into budget workshops the week of February 5.
