By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
During the Feb. 22 meeting of the Guthrie County Board of Supervisors, Conservation Director Brad Halterman addressed the supervisors about the proposed 28E agreement with the Iowa DNR regarding the Middle Raccoon River access. The supervisors approved the agreement, pending review by the county attorney.
The bulk of the meeting was a review of budgetary numbers for the upcoming fiscal year. Supervisor Mike Dickson again questioned the revenue numbers for the sheriff’s department, saying the yearly number looks unrealistically large based on the current year-to-date actual revenue.
County Auditor Dani Fink agreed with the idea of budgeting revenues conservatively.
“If they bring in $378,000, great. But it’s going to hurt us if we overbudget that revenue and don’t have it,” Fink said.
Dickson questioned whether or not housing inmates from other counties is truly beneficial financially for the county.
“There’s seven jailers, and the only reason we need seven jailers is because we’re contracting with other counties to bring in inmates,” Dickson said. “And if that’s costing us $200,000, after benefits and other things,…it’s costing us to house other peoples’ inmates. We either up our rate, or we stop it.”
The consensus among the supervisors was to request more detail on the revenues and expenses.
Agenda item No. 3 (Strategic Plan Agreement with Region XII) was tabled so the supervisors could have more time to review the document.
The next regular meeting of the supervisors will be Tuesday, Feb. 26. Attendees may participate in person at the courthouse or by calling 323-792-6123 and inputting conference ID 547029216#.