Budget Time For Mahaska County
Mahaska County Supervisors Mike Vander Molen (left) and Mark Doland (right) along with Mahaska County Auditor Sue Brown (center)
Oskaloosa, Iowa – It’s that time of year once again where government entities start to develop budgets for their next fiscal year. Currently, Mahaska County Supervisors are working on developing the budget for the 2014-15 budget.
Mahaska County Supervisor Mark Doland posted on his Facebook page that, ” there are some obvious fund balances that need to be given back to taxpayers. I will be proposing some large levy decreases this year to accomplish that goal.”
“Just from a budgeting practice, it’s been suggested from ISAC and some other organizations, including Farm Bureau, that our ending fund balances remain at 30 percent of expenditures for that 3 month period we have to pay for when we receive the tax revenue,” said Doland, touching upon the gap that happens between budgets and when revenue begins to come back into the coffers.
Doland said that mental health has an ending balance over a million dollars, “and it should be down around three-hundred thousand. “So we’ve reduced the balance in these funds by nearly a million dollars in the current fiscal year.”
He would look to lower the levy rate for this year, or rebate it back to the tax payer. “Next year when you look at our ending fund balance, it would be about three-hundred thousand dollars.”
Doland also looks to apply this practice to the General Supplemental and Basic fund balances. He says there is currently about 3.9 million dollars. “We’ve been slowly lowering the levy,” but the fund continues to increase, Doland said.
“But that can be easier said than done. Mark’s opinion that the sum of the general fund and supplemental continues to go up is wrong,” said Mahaska County Supervisor Mike Vander Molen. He explained that the previous years balance in mental health was 4.8 million dollars, and as of June 30 of this year, that fund balance will be 3.9 million.
Doland said that “it’s a learning process” in helping to develop a budget. Doland took office last year as the budget process was in its final phase.
Each department that receives funding from the county spends approximately 20 minutes with the board, going over its needs for the upcoming year.
Doland was elected to fill the unexpired term of Ken Rozenboom who was elected to the State Senate.
Doland has said he is considering a run for supervisor once again, “pretty strongly”. Doland said he has sent out petitions for signatures to the caucus locations. “That doesn’t mean that I’ve made a decision to run.”
100 signatures are required, “and I’ve started that process in case I do decide to run,” Doland said.
The first round of budget meetings is this week. Other governmental agencies like the City of Oskaloosa and the Oskaloosa School District will begin their open meetings in the upcoming weeks.
