SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
December 29, 2022
Sullivan’s Salvos 1/3/23
In this edition:
*Welcome to 2023!
*Serving as Vice Chair
*New Committee Assignments
*Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!
*County Building Renovations and the Budget
*Did You Know?
*Welcome to 2023!
Happy New Year! Here’s to a better and brighter year ahead! I have never been big on New Year’s resolutions – you can see that by my weight! But I certainly welcome the “fresh start” feel of the New Year. I hope 2023 is good to you and yours!
*Serving as Vice Chair
I will be serving as the Vice Chair of the Board this year, while Supervisor Green Douglass serves as Chair. If things go according to plan, I will then become the Chair in 2024.
The Vice Chair assists the Chair in setting the meeting agendas, ands runs meetings in the absence of the Chair. It amounts to quite a bit of extra work, but it is an honor to serve.
*New Committee Assignments
The Board of Supervisors tries to rotate the committees upon which its’ members serve. We typically serve on any given committee for 2-4 years, then move on. This ensures that all members get a certain amount of exposure to everything we do. It also ensures that a fresh set of eyes gets involved every so often. Sometimes it is more complicated than this, but that is generally how things work.
This rotation takes place in January every year, so we are all taking on some new and different challenges. I will be serving in the following roles for 2023:
I will be returning to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) of Johnson County Board, the East Central Iowa Council of Governments (ECICOG) Board, and rejoining the East Central Mental Health Region. I am looking forward to working with each of those groups.
There are many, many other boards, committees, and commissions of which I am a part. But this gives you a sense of a few of my assignments.
*Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!
Our Christmas Holiday was one we will not soon forget! We had never done anything like this before, but this year Melissa and I decided to spend Christmas in Orlando with our son Octavious (BJ). Our middle daughter Jordan, who lives in Memphis, decided to join us. So we were set for a fun and very different holiday.
We were flying direct from Cedar Rapids to Orlando, scheduled to leave Thursday morning December 22. Then on Wednesday the 21st, the forecast looked dire. Our flight got cancelled. We were in jeopardy of missing a unique holiday experience.
So we looked at the weather map. Could we fly out of St. Louis? Didn’t look promising. Memphis? That might work. So Melissa cancelled our CR flight, and booked us on a flight the evening of the 22nd from Memphis to Charlotte to Orlando.
But we had to leave immediately. So we through some stuff in a couple bags and started the 9 hour drive to Memphis. We got to Jordan’s just fine, though the drive was grueling. We got to the airport on Thursday in plenty of time. And then the storm hit. An ice storm forced us to sit on the tarmac for almost 4 hours. When we finally got to Charlotte at 2am, everything was cancelled. After two hours in line, we grabbed a couple hours of “sleep” on the airport floor.
Luckily, we got out early the next day, and arrived in Orlando at a decent hour. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for my luggage. I had to go most of the trip without it! Needless to say, I was looking good!
It was also crazy because Orlando was unseasonably cold. It was 84 right before we got there, and it is supposed to be in the 80s beginning again soon. But we had highs between 45 and 60 during our stay.
In the end, everything was great. We got what we wanted – time with our adult children who live far away. But it was quite an ordeal!
*County Building Renovations and the Budget
Johnson County has been planning to do some renovations to the Administration Building, built in 1986, and the Health and Human Services Building, built in 2010. A committee was formed to discuss what needed to be done. Unfortunately, the scope and cost of the project continued to balloon, and the price tag has risen to over $25 million.
The County Finance Director (Dana Aschenbrenner) recently urged the Supervisors to scrap the current project and go back to the drawing board, suggesting that coming up with even half that amount of money may be infeasible.
Unfortunately, we got this info late in the game. A great deal of planning had gone into the renovations, and it would have been nice to have had this data much earlier in the process. But the facts remain – we do not have the money.
While I understand the frustration and disappointment felt by many in the County, I do not see any other reasonable way forward. To fund the $25 million + project, we would need to spend down our reserves to precarious levels. This would violate our own reserve policies, and penalize us when it came time to borrow. (By affecting our bond rating.) I will not support this. Period.
What’s more, the $25 million + project would also necessitate a tax increase of over 23%, followed by an increase of 8% two years later. In all my years as a County Supervisor we have never even approached an 8% tax increase, let alone 23%. That is simply way too much, and I will not support it. Period.
What can be done? We have over $5 million set aside to get things started. Let’s dig into the plan and see what we feel is most important. Then let’s see what $5 million will get us. With a prioritized list, we can knock off a project or two every year until we have made significant improvements.
Look, I get it - it is much easier and cheaper to do everything at once. I do not dispute that. But the only way you can do that is if you have the money. We do not. So arguing for the project is a moot point.
I have been warning for some time that the Board needs to tighten its belt. That has gone over like a lead balloon. There are more needs in Johnson County than we could ever hope to address. We have to make some hard choices. Frankly, I don’t even see this choice as that hard.
Things will not be getting easier, either. The Iowa Legislature has already said their number one priority is cutting property taxes. And they have the votes to do anything they want. The people of Johnson County need the Board of Supervisors to go into this budget very clear-eyed. We will have to find several areas in which we can save money. Nobody wants to discuss it, but it is a fact.
*DID YOU KNOW? Over the past seven fiscal years, the tax rate in Johnson County has dropped about 16%. That does NOT necessarily mean your taxes went down; the primary driver of your tax bill is the assessed valuation of the property.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
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As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 10:33 AM
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