HC Supervisors approve three year contract with Cost Advisory Services

MT. PLEASANT - The Henry County Board of Supervisors approved a three-year contract with Cost Advisory Services at their meeting on Thursday morning.

The contract with the company, who the county has worked with previously, will be $4,125 per year.

County auditor Shelly Barber, explained the Cost Advisory Services helps the county calculate reimbursements on hidden costs dealing with mental health services from the federal government. Barber said reimbursements usually range from $30,000 to $35,000.

'[Cost Advisory Services] come in and they go through all the costs that it takes for every department that works with mental health. So my office, the time that my staff works with mental health, doing the claims, because that, a lot of times, isn't included. Our cost and shares of things that happen are not included in that,” Barber said.

The auditor added the formulas the company deals with to determine the reimbursements are rather complicated and while the county could attempt to calculate the costs themselves, it would be rather difficult.

During the meeting, supervisor Greg Moeller also offered an update from a Regional Utility Services Systems (RUSS) meeting. RUSS provides environmental services to seven counties in southeast Iowa: Keokuk, Jefferson, Henry, Van Buren, Lee, Des Moines and Louisa.

Moeller noted the Jefferson County Board of Health would be meeting later in the day 'with a decision to either accept or reject the proposal for RUSS to provide the sanitarian duties for Jefferson County.”