Handful of county code changes get hearings next week

WASHINGTON — A total of three proposed amendments to Washington County code will get public hearings at the board of supervisors meeting Tuesday morning, Sept. 3, opening the floor for public input on a variety of expected changes to local law.

Perhaps most contentious among them is an ordinance governing wind energy in Washington County, which has the latest hearing start time, at 9:30 a.m. If enacted, the rules would likely prevent any development of the generators by establishing lengthy setback requirements for the turbines, and requiring developers to reimburse landowners if a wind project devalues their property.

In previous debates about the issue, conservative viewpoints have clashed over whether the ordinance effectively checks against an unwelcome “eyesore” energy source subsidized by state tax breaks, or unfairly infringes upon farmers’ rights to lease their own property as they see fit. A procedural vote earlier this month to schedule the public hearing ended in a 3-2 vote for the all-Republican board of supervisors.

Also on the agenda is an amendment that would close loopholes in the county’s subdivision and platting ordinance, which officials say are being exploited by an individual dividing a parcel into more pieces than should be possible without creating a new subdivision.

The issue has led supervisors to consider a moratorium on parcel splits, a move that may see discussion of its own at the supervisor meeting after Tuesday’s public hearings.

“We do get some surveys that are pending sales for good purposes, being on the up and up,” Deputy County Auditor Tammy Stewart said at a meeting last week. “But I don’t know how else to prevent the bad one from taking place.”

The first public hearing of the day, at 9 a.m., will focus on an ordinance governing the county’s ambulance billing practices. Officials said the change would allow the Washington County Ambulance to work with the state and withhold tax returns for people who hadn’t paid their bill for ambulance services.

The billing practice was once fairly routine, according to county officials, before the state-level responsibility shifted from the Iowa Department of Administrative Services to the Department of Revenue, which required new procedures from counties and renamed it a “setoff program.”

Ambulance Billing Coder Jamie Brame said the department had around $360,000 of uncollected fees between July 2020 and 2023, which the setoff program could help pay for.

“It’s a sizable chunk of change that could enter that program,” she said.

A formal agenda for the Sept. 3 regular meeting was not immediately available, but supervisors said they tentatively planned to schedule first readings for the ordinances at their meeting immediately after the public hearings. In order to take effect, an ordinance must get at least two public readings on separate dates, and be published in a newspaper of record.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com