Approve a salary increase of 7.25% for elected officials.
By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
On Jan. 4, the Guthrie County Board of Supervisors met for their first weekly budget workshop meeting in preparation for budgeting for the upcoming 2025 fiscal year. The supervisors heard from two departments, Veterans Affairs/General Relief and the Auditor’s Department.
Beth Watson, administrator for Veterans Affairs, provided a summary of the preliminary budgetary plans for her department.
Auditor Dani Fink shared budget numbers for her department. She explained the projected costs of elections.
The supervisors discussed the feasibility of reviewing budgetary numbers from remaining departments, and whether or not that could be achieved in one day. There was consensus that each department’s initial overview with the supervisors should only take 15-20 minutes.
The supervisors held their regular meeting on Jan. 9. Zoning Administrator Chris Whitaker spoke to the supervisors regarding a requested appeal from Brian and Michelle Bailey, regarding the requirements for a minor subdivision.
Whitaker said that according to the guidelines, “Even a minor subdivision does require a paved surface.”
“The rules are pretty clear as to what we can and can’t do right now, so we’re not in a position to where we can change that for this particular situation,” Supervisor Maggie Armstrong said.
Armstrong added that, going forward, she feels the supervisors should review the rules to see if any need to be updated. The consensus among supervisors was that the rules as they are currently written are clear. Mike Dickson made a motion to deny the appeal, and it was unanimously passed.
The supervisors heard from two members of the Guthrie County Compensation Board, John Tews and John Twillmann, regarding recommendations for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 salaries for elected officials. Guthrie County salaries currently are below the average and the median when compared to all counties in Iowa. The recommendation was for an increase of 7.25%. The supervisors voted to approve the recommendation.
The board’s next meeting will be a budgetary workshop on Thursday, Jan 11 at 9 a.m. The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 16 at 9 a.m. Interested persons may listen to the supervisor meetings remotely by dialing 1-323-792-6123 and entering passcode 547 029 216#.