County won?t levy for mental health

By Brooks Taylor, Mt. Pleasant News

Henry County property taxpayers will receive an unanticipated jingle in their pockets during the fiscal 2018 budget year.

That?s because county supervisors at their regular meeting Tuesday decided not to have a property tax levy for mental health in next year?s budget.

The published 2018 fiscal year county budget, which was adopted Feb. 21 by supervisors, included a .24825-cent tax asking for mental health. However, the state has said that in three years small population counties cannot have over a 20-percent surplus in the mental health fund of their budget. The state has not said what penalty counties will face that have a surplus beyond 20 percent.

Currently, Henry County has about a 200-percent surplus in its mental-health account. The county did not levy for mental health in the fiscal 2017 budget, either, but anticipates a mental health fund balance of $2,135,336 at the beginning (July 1) of the 2018 fiscal year. Expenditures during fiscal 2018 are pegged at $933,289 leaving a balance of about $1.2M.

?I think we should drop the (mental health) levy down,? said supervisor Chairman Marc Lindeen before the board voted to do so. ?We are not spending it down as quickly as the state wants.?

Sarah Berndt, county coordinator of disability services/general assistance director, told the supervisors that some new services, primarily a crisis intervention program, will be launched the next fiscal year which will require additional money.

Lindeen wasn?t convinced, though, that a 2018 levy was needed. ?I don?t want to spend money just to spend money.?

He also said that several other counties in the Southeast Iowa Link (SEIL) mental-health region of which Henry County is a member, may also have to reduce tax asking because of surpluses.

County Auditor Shelly Barber said she had to know the board?s wishes by June 4 so she could inform the state. The budget will not have to be re-published, she noted.

In her monthly report to the supervisors, Berndt also said the county helped fund a burial for an indigent last month which brings the total for the fiscal year to four burials. The general assistance director also said she has approved six applications for general assistance during the past six months. ?The majority of the requests (for public assistance) are for past due rent or utilities,? she said.

Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss said he has nearly finalized plans for new county secondary-roads sheds in Wayland and Winfield. He expects to set a bid-letting date soon.

The proposed 45x56-foot sheds will replace 30x50-foot sheds. The new sheds will also be heated.

?We are going to have buildings that are a little wider and longer so we can park a dump truck in it,? he explained. ?One reason we are upgrading is because we want heated buildings. Now it takes quite a while for machines to warm up before use. Heat will allow us to use the machines quicker and be more efficient.?

Hotchkiss said the existing buildings would be removed ahead of time and would not be included in the project cost. The new buildings will be built after July 1, he added.

Thus far, construction is going well on the Winfield Avenue reconstruction project, the engineer told the supervisors and paving could begin later this week, weather permitting.

Topping the ?to do? list for the secondary-roads department is the shoulder-pulling project on 335th Street, east of U.S. Highway 218. He said the project involves 1.5 miles of work and will take a couple of weeks to finish.

Another task which is receiving attention is mowing ditches along county roads. Currently, the county has two mowers working simultaneously.

Work by the secondary-roads employees last week included finishing the White Oak shoulder pulling project; mowing shoulders; working on drainage issues on 310th Street and Marsh Avenue; seeding; and hauling resurfacing rock to several locations.

Supervisors meet again in regular session Thursday, May 18, at 9 a.m., at the courthouse.