Iowa County EMA defends its spending in the midst of budget discussions

MARENGO — While Iowa County Supervisor Abby Maas may think the Emergency Management budget is getting out of hand, the commission that governs EMA doesn’t have a problem with it, according to Emergency Management Director Josh Humphrey.

During a meeting of the Iowa County Board of Supervisors this month, Maas questioned several items in the EMA budget, including a decision to buy extraction equipment at the end of the year which put EMA over budget for equipment.

That’s standard procedure for departments, said Humphrey. EMA had $45,000 left in its budget, so it purchased a $12,000 piece of equipment that it had been looking at for three years.

“If you have something that comes up, and you have funding, you try to buy it at the end of the year,” said Humphrey. “That’s kind of how anyone does it.”

Maas, who is on the Emergency Management Commission, questioned several spending decisions during the last Commission meeting, said Humphrey. “The board basically said they didn’t see any issue with any of them.”

Humphrey said EMA is paying for things the Board of Supervisors can’t afford to fund. The $8 million, 10-year communications contract with Racom is covered in the EMA budget, he said.

The county will pay for the infrastructure through the sale of bonds, but EMA pays the maintenance, which costs about $386,000 a year, said Humphrey.

The county has to have a hazard mitigation plan, and EMA takes that on, said Humphrey. Part of that is paid for by a grant, but the rest is paid for with a county tax levy.

“Same with the hazmat contract. The county is the one that should be holding the contract on that, and it’s been EMA,” Humphrey said. A lot of things that EMA does could be pushed back to the supervisors, he said.

“Some of those things we’ve always just taken on and done,” Humphrey said.

Regardless of whether the Board of Supervisors or EMA pays the bills, the money comes from county property taxes, Humphrey admitted.

By law the county can’t cut the EMA budget, so if county supervisors want to reduce its tax levy, it has to cut the budgets of other departments.

EMA mandate

The State of Iowa mandated Emergency Management Commissions in the 1990s to insure preparations adequate to deal with disasters, “to provide for the common defense and to protect the public peace, health and safety,” Iowa Code 29C says.

County boards of supervisors, city councils and the sheriff in each county were to establish commissions to carry out the provisions of Chapter 29C. In Iowa County, the commission is made up of one county supervisor, the county sheriff and the mayors of Millersburg, Williamsburg, Victor, Marengo, Parnell, North English and Ladora.

The commission determines the mission of its agency and program and provides direction for the delivery of the emergency management services of planning, administration, coordination, training and support for local governments and their departments, Iowa Code says.

“EMA has turned into whatever the local county wants it to be,” said Humphrey. EMAs in many counties are administrative and don’t respond to emergencies, while Iowa County EMA funds response teams.

Emergency management agencies may be funded primarily in one or a combination of any of the following four ways: a countywide special levy; a per capita allocation funded from city and county general funds or by a combination of city and county special levies which may be apportioned among the member jurisdictions; an allocation computed as each jurisdiction’s relative share of the total assessed valuation within the county; or by a voluntary share allocation.

Iowa County’s EMA budget is funded through a county tax levy. In this fiscal year, the county’s general basic fund supplied $694,500 for EMA, according to the Iowa Department of Management. Iowa County’s property tax valuation is listed at $1.18 billion. It’s population, according to the 2020 census, was 16,600.

Because funds are limited as to what they can be used for, the county sometimes pays expenses from one fund and sometimes from another to free up money for specific uses. In fiscal year 2025, the county provided EMA funds partly from its general basic and partly from general supplemental, said Maas.

In FY24, the $595,000 needed to fund EMA came from general basic, and in FY23, the $465,000 budget was funded from general supplemental, Maas said.

Benton County, with a population of 25,584 and a valuation of $1.88 billion has an EMA budget of $136,287 this fiscal year, paid out of the county’s general supplemental fund, according to the Iowa Department of Management.

Poweshiek County, with a population of about 18,400 and a valuation of nearly $1.5 billion, will spend $141,676 on EMA from general basic.

The more populous Johnson County, with about 160,000 residents and a valuation of about $10.25 billion, funded its EMA to the tune of $5.4 million through its general supplemental fund this fiscal year, while Polk County, with a population of more than 500,000 and a valuation of $32.2 billion, levied only $893,000 for its EMA through general supplemental.

Iowa County EMA

Iowa County is different from other counties, said Humphrey. It has a dive team and a rescue unit outside of its fire departments with equipment for extraction from vehicles, rope rescue and grain bin rescues. All those things cost money, he said.

“We are one of two departments in the county run on volunteers,” said Humphrey. EMA has talked about moving rescue services to sheriff’s office, but that would cost more because the county would have to pay them, he said.

With weather spotters and rescue members, EMA has 50 volunteers who are not paid, said Humphrey. EMA provides their safety gear.

“There are a lot of things in our budget that are out of our control,” said Humphrey. Health insurance is jumping from $18,749 to $33,593, he said. Property insurance is increasing to more than $65,000.

EMA commission

“I think the EMA board tries to figure out,” said Humphrey. EMA should have replaced a rescue truck last year, but chose to use an older truck. A new one would have cost $350,000, Humphrey said, but EMA spent $80,000 on a municipal lease.

EMA replaces trucks for the volunteers every 20 years, Humphrey said. The pickups all carry extraction equipment.

Maas suggested sharing turnout gear with fire departments to save money, but Humphrey said fire gear is for fighting structure fires while rescue gear is a cheaper version.

Fire departments have to replace their gear every 10 years, said Humphrey. “We don’t necessarily have to do that.”

EMA tried sharing with another agency when it moved to Williamsburg, said Humphrey. “And that didn’t work out.”

Humphrey said that on the advice of their attorney, “We’re not supposed to enter into any more agreements like that.”

EMA has its own building now, which increased the EMA budget, said Humphrey. “Nothing is getting any cheaper and that’s the biggest problem.”

Humphrey said the question residents have to answer is, what services don’t they want to have?

Drones

Maas also wondered why EMA has eight drones. Humphrey said they are designed for different situations and they are spread out over the county for faster deployment.

The county paid for three of the drones, said Humphrey. They are designed for flying in confined areas and cost more than $3,000 each. The other drones are about $18,000 each and were purchased with grants, he said.

EMA began buying drones after a migrant went missing for several days, said Humphrey. EMA tried to get state patrol aircraft and tried to get help from the National Guard, but they refused.

“We had no assets to help us,” said Humphrey. The missing person wasn’t found until five days later.

Last year EMA used a drone to find a missing person who was lost in woods in cold temperatures. He speculates that the person would have died without the help of EMA and its drones.