Supervisors To Decide On Veterans Affairs Coordinator Position
Mahaska-County-Courthouse
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors are deciding if the current Veterans Affairs Office should go full-time.
At Monday’s meeting, the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors heard from Veterans Affairs Board President Joe Durian. Durian asked the Board about making the current Veterans Affairs Coordinator a full-time position.
Durian said that nearly all such positions in neighboring counties are full-time, and that in order to help retain the current coordinator, the position should be moved to full-time status.
Durian says that he and the Veterans Affairs commission sees the benefit of making the position full-time. Those benefits for the county would include more funding to individual veterans through increased federal funding of benefits, and less cost for the county tax-payer funded service. “Figures show that we are missing the boat,” said Durian. “We’re not treating our veterans fairly by not having the office open 40 hours a week.”
Karie Foster has served the Veterans Affairs office since 2005, and says that she will be looking for other employment opportunities unless the position is made full-time.
Durian said he and the Veterans Affairs Board believes the position should be paid $45,000 a year plus benefits.
“How are you going to fit that in your budget?” Supervisor Mike Vander Molen asked. Durian responded that the department has historically returned $35,000 back to the county each fiscal year. That along with the grant money received from the State, that can be used for salaries, is how the VA Board is proposing to pay for the increased cost.
Vander Molen said that with those figures in mind, the benefit package would be an additional $14,000 per year. He questioned if there would be room in the budget for the added payroll expense.
Durian said, “We don’t have quite that much.”
The Veterans Affair Board is concerned that if a solution isn’t found soon, they may lose Foster to other employment opportunities. Foster has been on the job for nearly 10 years. She is certified for the position and is highly regarded by the Veterans Affair Board for her work.
Doland asked the Veterans Affair Board to go back and review their budget, “to find out how much money you have. How much do you have you can shift around.”
“Why was this request not made in January?” Vander Molen asked of Durian. During January, budgets for the upcoming fiscal year are planned.
“Probably to our own fault,” said Durian. Durian said that after Foster mentioned the need to look for a job with more pay and benefits, the Veterans Affair Board started looking into what the position was paid in neighboring counties.
“I doubt I’ll be able to approve anything for this fiscal year,” said Vander Molen, “It’s a pretty dramatic change to the budget.” Vander Molen didn’t rule out changing the position in the future, he just expressed concern about changing the position mid-year.
Doland said that he’s always supported getting a raise for Foster in Veterans Affairs, but the Board of Supervisors will need to have further information in order to make a decision.
