Commissioners approve budget on a split vote

After fielding questions and concerns from a group of county residents Tuesday morning during the hearing for the proposed 2017 budget, which includes a 3.783 mill increase, the Jackson County Commissioners approved the budget as presented by a 2-1 vote in the afternoon.

Commissioners Janet Zwonitzer and Bill Elmer voted in favor of the proposed budget while Commissioner Rob Ladner voted against it. 

“I thought we could have reduced it by half a mill and could have gotten by,” Ladner said of his dissenting vote.

The budget includes a total mill levy of 77.622 mills for the next fiscal year, compared to 73.839 used to fund the 2016 budget. 

Ten county residents attended the budget hearing, which was held at 10 a.m., to protest the increase. Those present were Roy Hallauer, Harlan Parnell, Verlin Wichman, Roger DeVader, Roger Jameson, Alice Patterson, Lavon Keehn, Dale Clements, Keith Kelly and John Coleman. 

Many of the residents were concerned that the value of their property, including ag land (which is set by the state), had increased significantly in the last several years, and that an increase in the county mill levy would be an even greater burden.

With a state-mandated tax lid expected to tax effect in 2018, the commissioners and Jackson County Clerk Kathy Mick created the 2017 budget to allow funds to be saved back each year to help fund the county’s budget for the next five years. The tax lid does not allow counties to propose a budget that’s greater than the Consumer Price Index without a public vote. 

The commissioners say the 3.783 mill increase will establish a funding level to sustain the county through the next five years without the need for exceeding the tax lid. 

 “It appears that since the state is going to give residents the right to vote on budget increases, you want to make a nest egg for the next five years so we don’t have the right to vote,” Kelly said. “Why do you want to take that authority away from us? You get the authority to raise our taxes without representation. Live with the money you currently have coming in.”

Roger DeVader said he didn’t think the commissioners should be saving back taxpayer money from year to year.

“One of the problems I have with this increase is that you’re wanting to take my Social Security from me and put it in the bank for the county,” DeVader said. “We, the citizens of the county, have the right to say whether we want to spend money on projects. When we don’t have the money, we live within a budget. We cut things out.”

Mick and the commissioners said that they looked for areas to cut but there wasn’t much flexibility. Mick also explained that the county is currently in a three-year contract with a health insurance provider and that they have no control when and how often those rates change.

Kelly also noted that people look for counties with low tax rates when deciding where to establish a commercial business, and he was worried the increase might drive away potential business owners.

There was additional concern that one mill of the 3.783 increase will be used to purchase and have a company haul rock to the county since there is no longer a quarry in the county.

“I don’t like my taxes to go up either,” Mick said. “We have tried for years to not to have debt. The county is currently debt free, and I am proud of that. We’ve tried to keep it down. We cannot help it that we no longer have a rock quarry in the county and that we have to spend half of our rock budget to go get it. It’s ridiculous, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Some shared that they didn’t think the new county road and bridge shop, as well as all of its renovations, were a need or that the process of purchasing the business property and taking it off the tax roll was done correctly.

The building was purchased at a cost of $350,000, but additional equipment has been purchased, as well as renovations and repairs.

Commissioner Zwonitzer said the commission had been looking for alternatives for the road and bridge shop for many years and that purchasing the building, with cash on hand, allowed the county to remain debt-free. 

After an hour and 15 minutes of comments, the commissioners thanked everyone for their input and then continued to discuss the budget in the afternoon before eventually voting on it.

With the budget, the county expects to collect $8,404,549 in local taxes, which is up $732,718 from last year’s total of $7,671,831.

“We’ve put extensive planning into the budget and worked on it for months, and I feel this is what we need to take care of the county,” Zwonitzer said after the budget was approved.

Elmer agreed.

“I am sorry for any constituents that feel that we’re taking their voting rights away with this budget. That’s not our purpose,” he said. “We just want to keep operating the county at the same level it has been.”