Iowa County faces crisis in law enforcement

MARENGO — Iowa County Supervisors tabled action on law enforcement contracts with Millersburg, Victor and North English last week after Victor City Clerk Melanie Kempf told the board that Victor can’t afford the new contract.

Kempf said that Victor Mayor Eric Refer wondered if the county could get a contract for fewer hours for so much per hour.

Supervisors decided to visit council meetings of the towns and explain how the cost for law enforcement has gone up and why the county needs towns to pick up more of the expense.

Millersburg, Ladora and Parnell are paying about $2,000 each, said Supervisor Abby Maas. The county hasn’t formerly asked North English or Victor for anything, said Maas, but asked Sheriff Rob Rotter how much he thought towns should be paying the county for law enforcement coverage.

Rotter figured up the cost of one deputy’s salary, a vehicle and equipment, which is $158,000.

“That’s doing the best we can without supplementing with county [money],” said Rotter.

These deputies are funded by the rural services fund, said Maas, which comes from property taxes from all property outside incorporated areas.

Currently, rural residents are paying for the gap in revenue between what the cost is to cover incorporated areas and what those towns are paying for service from the county sheriff’s department, Maas said.

“I was kind of surprised about how many calls we had to Marengo,” Maas told Rotter. Marengo has a police department, but the sheriff’s department responded to more than 850 calls in Marengo.

The town doesn’t have 24-hour coverage, said Rotter. The sheriff’s office covers calls during off hours. It also assists on calls fielded by Marengo officers, so the numbers can be a little misleading, said Rotter.

According to numbers provided by the county, 47.67% of calls for service (6,016) were in rural Iowa County. Another 11.64% were to the Amana Colonies. The boundaries in the colonies are obscure so sometimes its hard to know whether to classify them as in town or rural calls, Rotter said.

“It’s all rural anyway, so I guess it wouldn’t matter,” Rotter said.

Victor, with a population of 875, had 1,237 calls last year, or 9.8% of sheriff’s calls. North English, population 905, had 1,095 calls, or 8.68%, and Marengo, 856, or 6.78%.

The sheriff’s department fielded 649 calls along I-80, 5.14% of calls.

Millersburg, population 162, had 109 calls for service.

If the county implemented a population-based payment system, having each town pay a percentage of the sheriff’s department’s budget based on the percentage of the town’s population in the county, Millersburg would pay $18,393 a year.

In a call-based system, in which the towns paid a percentage of the budget based on the percentage of calls, Millersburg would pay $16,340.

Victor would be on the hook for $99,345 in a population-based system, and $185,443 in a call-based system.

North English would pay $99,345 based on population or $164,155 based on call volume.

Supervisors know the towns can’t afford those numbers.

The old contract was “kind of” based on calls per population, said Rotter. “We haven’t made an adjustment for population in the last 10 years.”

Some towns in the county, such as Ladora, have 28E agreements with Iowa County for law enforcement. Supervisor Alan Schumacher suggested the county look at those agreements as well to see if they need updated.

The costs of law enforcement are going up, said Mass. The county can’t be the only entity absorbing the cost increases, she said.

In addition to an increase in costs, the county is looking at less revenue. The State set the rollback for property taxes at 46% this year, down from 54.6%, which will bring in fewer tax dollars. The rollback is the percentage of assessed value on which properties are taxed.

“I think that your proposal, the cost of one deputy, is fair,” Maas told Rotter.

If the county can’t come up with enough money, it may have to lay off a deputy, giving the county less ability to cover, Rotter said.

“We can certainly ask the state patrol for help,” said Rotter, in the case of transportation, but not for domestic disputes, trespassing or theft.

“When somebody calls, they definitely want somebody to come,” said Rotter. But if the cities can’t help pay for the deputies that respond to their calls, the county will have to come up with the money or layoff a deputy.

Incomes go up, said Supervisor Jon Degen, and the towns that receive service from the county need to help pay for the increases. The county can’t continue taking on more and more of the burden, he said.

“You couldn’t find worse inflation,” said Rotter. Millersburg can’t fund its fire department, he said.

“We’re maxed out,” said Kempf.

“Victor can’t afford it. Iowa County can’t afford it,” said Supervisor Alan Schumacher.

Supervisors are going to have to think outside the box, Maas said.