Board of Supervisors Agenda and Minutes - Regular Meeting

Good evening, we're going to reconvene the Dallas County Board of Supervisors meeting, April 21st, 2026, at 7 p.m. I wanted to start by thanking everyone who worked on the budget, which is everyone and most of the people in this room. All department heads, the budget director, the budgeting staff, and the board members. We started our process with pre-budget meetings in November, and then we met almost every day in the month of January, almost every day. And then we proceeded to have meetings most of February and most of March. So this has been a long process and have gone over all the details. So tonight we have a presentation that we're going to go through and I'm gonna do the presentation and then we will, I guess I will open the public hearing right now and then we'll do the presentation throughout it. But I just wanted people to remember that if they want to speak at the podium, they can just go to the podium. They clearly need to state their name and address. Comments must be limited to 10 minutes, and they must be related to this public hearing topic. Comments should be cumulative and non-repetitive. Also, all remarks should be addressed to the Board of Supervisors as a body, not to any particular board member, any staff member, or any member of the public. Thank you. OK. THE PRESENTATION WILL BE UP ON THE SCREEN, BUT ALSO IT WILL BE ON OUR WEBSITE TOMORROW. WE'LL HAVE IT UP THERE. SO LET'S START WITH THE SLIDE ONE IS OUR POPULATION GROWTH. AND THERE WERE COPIES IN THE BACK. SO OUR POPULATION GROWTH AS YOU CAN SEE HAS GONE UP SIGNIFICANTLY. WE'RE THE FOURTH FASTEST GROWING COUNTY IN THE NATION IN 2020. And year over year, averaging about 3.5% annual growth rate, if we assume that, will be just under 127,000 people by the end of fiscal 2027, ranking the sixth largest county in Iowa. And property valuations have also gone up. Countywide valuation has grown 217% since FY10. And rural valuation has grown about 135% since FY10. Continues to grow. So the proposed budget overview, the proposed budget expenses for FY27 are approximately $61.8 million consisting of the following service areas. We will go through those a little bit more in depth as we go. But the largest is our public safety and legal services. And that is law enforcement, court services, attorney's office, and ambulance are within that service area. And then you can see the other ones, roads and transportation, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Go to the next one. Historic revenues, this table data from the Department of Management dating back to FY05. The table shows historical total revenues from all sources from FY05 through FY25. Budgeted revenues for FY26 and proposed budgeted for FY27. We have an appendix in the back of the presentation that will go into more detail. We'll talk about it in this presentation also. NEXT, TOTAL HISTORICAL EXPENDITURES. THIS TABLE IS ALSO FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT, AND AGAIN, GOES THROUGH THOSE YEARS, AND WE HAVE AN APPENDIX B THAT BREAKS DOWN THE EXPENDITURES BY THE SERVICE AREAS FOR THAT TIME PERIOD. THAT'S A LITTLE HARD TO READ, IT'S SO LITTLE. AND THEN WE HAVE THIS GRAPH THAT SHOWS KIND OF GRAPHICALLY WHAT BOTH THE REVENUE AND EXPENDITURES ARE. NOTE THAT ALMOST EVERY YEAR DATING BACK TO FY05, THE TOTAL EXPENDITURES EXPEED REVENUES. THE DIFFERENCE IS MADE UP FROM GRANT INCOME, FEDERAL AND STATE, INTEREST EARNINGS, FREE INCOME, AND SPENDING OF FUND BALANCE. EXPENSES OVER REVENUES HAVE BEEN INCREASING OVER TIME AS SHOWN IN THE GRAPH. THE GRANT INCOME HAS INCREASED THE GRANT INCOME HAS INCREASED RATHER SUBSTANTIALLY OVER THE RATHER SUBSTANTIALLY OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS AND EXPENSE LAST FIVE YEARS AND EXPENSE SPIKES YOU CAN SEE IN 2018-2019 SPIKES YOU CAN SEE IN 2018-2019 IS DUE TO THE LAW ENFORCEMENT IS DUE TO THE LAW ENFORCEMENT CENTER AND THEN 24-25 SPIKE IS CENTER AND THEN 24-25 SPIKE IS DUE TO THE ADMINISTRATION DUE TO THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING PROJECT. BUILDING PROJECT. YOU CAN SEE THOSE SPIKES THERE. YOU CAN SEE THOSE SPIKES THERE. HISTORICAL PROPOSED URBAN LEVY. HISTORICAL PROPOSED URBAN LEVY. THE COMBIN to 3.51 in FY26. It's gone down. We had a little blip in there, and then it's continued to gone down. In FY27, we are requesting a total urban levy rate of 3.40, which is a reduction of 11 cents per 1,000 in taxable valuation, a decrease of 3.1% from FY26, and a cumulative reduction of 35.2% since FY10. Historical proposed rule levy and total levy. The rule levy rate has fallen from 3.95 in FY10 to 1.92 in FY26. In FY27, we are requesting a total rule levy rate of 1.86%, which is a reduction of $0.06 per 1,000. Taxable valuation, a decrease of 1.5% from FY26 and a cumulative reduction of 52.9% since FY10. And then again, this is a graph that shows that historical in graphical form. Let's talk about per capita spending versus taxes. This is kind of an interesting slide. This slide shows the difference in taxes levied versus spending. County services received from the average tax dollar paid for by property tax owner. Per capita spending far outweighs what we tax per capita. The difference is made up by grants, charges for services, license and permits, miscellaneous revenues. Based on the proposed FY27 budget, per capita tax will be about $286 compared to the value received of $488 per tax dollar. And then on this slide, kind of breaks out that $488 of value received by each taxpayer is spread out over the following services areas. And then you can kind of see that in the graph. The largest, again, would be public safety and legal services. About 42% would go to that. Then roads and transportation, about 19.5%. And then so forth. It goes down. You can see that, how per capita spending is done by service areas. I THINK THAT'S KIND OF INTERESTING ABOUT THE OFFSET. OKAY. THANK YOU. FISCAL YEAR 2026 LEVIES, WE COMPARE OURSELVES TO EVERY OTHER COUNTY. OF COURSE, EVERYBODY DOES THIS. SO WE WANT TO LOOK AT WHAT OURS IS COMPARED TO OTHER COUNTIES. THE SLIDE IS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT AND SHOWS THE 20 LOWEST COUNTYWIDE LEVY RATES IN FISCAL YEAR 2026. The file is too large, so if you wanted the whole list, you can let us know. In 2026, Dallas County had the third lowest countywide levy rate of all 99 counties and expect to remain that third lowest in FY27. So Dickinson and Boone are a little lower than we are. Okay, and then this one is for the rule rate only. Dallas County has the seventh lowest rule rate within the 99 counties. We are the third, and then if you look on that, it's interesting to look at what our general basic is compared to the lowest. Their general basic is over 6%. So it's just kind of interesting to see how that falls with the rule levy. And then of course our rule levy was 1.86 this year. Anyway, Dallas County has the third lowest combined levy rate for all 99 counties with 5.42484. Countywide, that's the countywide plus the rural. In 2027, the combined total of 5.26110 is expected to remain as the third lowest in the state. We've been talking about House File 718 since its inception. We started that July 1 of 2024. That's all about tiering. Depending on what our growth is, what we have to do, we're enforced a 2.2% limitation or a three-point limitation or no limitation. So let's see how this applies to Dallas County. For FY27, Dallas County's general basic assessed valuation growth was 5.24%, putting us in the 2% limitation tier. THE RESULT NEGATIVELY IMPACTS THE GENERAL FUND BY ABOUT $500,000. FOR FY26, THE GENERAL BASIC ASSESSED VALUATION GROWTH WAS 7.07%, PUTTING US IN THE 3% LIMITATION TIER. THE RESULT NEGATIVELY IMPACTED OUR GENERAL FUND BY $730,000. AND THEN OF COURSE, FY25, IT WAS 5.6, SO THEN WE WERE AGAIN IN THE 2% LIMITATION. SO SINCE HOUSE FILE 718 HAS STARTED, IT COMBINED NEGATIVELY TO IMPACT PROVIDE US 1.7 MILLION, BECAUSE WE ARE HELD TO THAT TIER DEPENDING ON OUR GROWTH. AND THEN WE'LL HAVE POSSIBLY NEW LEGISLATION THIS YEAR. HISTORICAL REVENUES. THIS TABLE SHOWS HISTORICAL ACTUAL REVENUES FROM PROPERTY TAXES FOR THE YEARS OF FY17 THROUGH FY25. BUDGETED REVENUES FOR FY26 AND PROVUSED BUDGET REVENUES FOR FY27. SO THAT SHOWS THE ACTUAL TAXES WE ARE GENERATING FROM THE REVENUE. OKAY. THE TABLE SHOWS HISTORIC by department. The table shows historic general basic and supplemental expenditures from FY18 through FY25, budgeted expenditures for FY26 and proposed expenditures for FY27. Departments that have seen the largest increase over this time period are public safety legal services. They include sheriff, including district court, court ordered services, which is about 10 million. County attorney, 2.1 million. Ambulance and medical examiner, 1.6 million. TOTAL INCREASE SINCE 2018 IS 13.7 MILLION, WHICH IS A 121% INCREASE. AND THEN THE REST OF IT, GOVERNMENT SERVICES FOR A TOTAL, THAT WOULD INCLUDE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, AUDITOR, TREASURER, RECORDER FOR A TOTAL INCREASE SINCE 2018 OF 3.3 MILLION, WHICH IS 106% INCREASE. And then the other departments, physical health, social services, county environment, education, including VA, general assistance, juvenile detention, planning and development, economic development, have a combined increase of 1.6 million, which is 76% increase. So let's talk about why that is. Go to the next slide. Employees, as you know, are the largest cost component of the county budget. We have 320 budgeted positions for FY27 compared to 312.75 in FY26 and 324.5 in FY25. FY26 reduction in staff was a result of closing the heart of Iowa region and the state no longer funding the Juvenile Court Services restorative justice position. So this year for FY27, we will be adding two new supervisors approved via the countywide vote in November in 2024. We had 8.5 additional new positions requested in FY27. We did approve six of those positions, and they are laid out on the slide for you. Paralegal, administrative recorder, operations, public information officer, custodian, and HR coordinator. DEPARTMENTS WITH THE LARGEST EMPLOYEE BUDGETS ARE THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE, SECONDARY ROADS, AND COUNTY ATTORNEY. THESE THREE DEPARTMENTS MAKE UP 54% OF THE EMPLOYEE SALARY BUDGET AND REPRESENT A LITTLE LESS THAN 51% OF ALL FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT EMPLOYEES. SINCE FY20, FTEs HAVE INCREASED BY 45.5 OR 16.5%. 41% OF THE INCREASE IS THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT ALONE ADDING 18.5 FTEs. THE COUNTYWIDE SALARY benefits budget increased 74% since FY20, which is attributed to the increase in number and cost of FTEs. In FY27, the salary and benefits budget will be 58% total budgeted expenses. This is an increase roughly of 18% over FY18 when employee salary and benefit budget was 40% of the total county budget expenses. OK, the next slide. So this, we also have it graphically. Why don't we go to the graphic? I think that might be easier to actually look at. The top two graphs on this slide are graphs of the data from the previous two slides talking about employees and employee costs. THE BOTTOM GRAPH PLOTS THE GENERAL BASIC EXPENSE AND REVENUE GROWTH PERCENTAGES AGAINST THE EMPLOYEE GROWTH PERCENTAGES. NOTE THAT THE EMPLOYEE GROWTH RATE PERCENTAGES MIRRORS CLOSELY TO THE EXPENSE GROWTH RATE. THIS MAKES SENSE CONSIDERING EMPLOYEE SALARIES AND EXPENSES ARE THE SINGLE LARGEST COUNTY EXPENDITURE. EMPLOYEE GROWTH DROP WAS THE CLOSURE OF THE HEART OF IOWA AND THE LOSS OF FUNDING FOR THE JUVENILE COORDINATOR POSITION. Next slide. We're going to talk about challenges and opportunities. So challenges and opportunities for Dallas County. We continue to monitor state legislative measures and initiatives to evaluate their potential impact on Dallas County operations and services provided by residents. We continue to deliver county service in the most effective and efficient manner to meet citizen expectations. The Board of Supervisors will expand from three to five members in January of 2027, leveraging Leverage this change to improve representation, responsiveness, and oversight. Undertake a comprehensive update of the county's land use plans and revise zoning ordinance as appropriate to guide future growth and development. That is on its way. We continue to build on the strength of a robust rural and suburban economy to support long-term economic viability. And again, we would always want to share Dallas County stories through our people and services, providing clear and accessible information so residents better understand and appreciate the county's assets and opportunities. And that is the end of my presentation, and I will open that up to board members for comments, if they have any, or the public or staff.

So coming back to the public.

Anybody want to say anything or have a question? It's a lot of numbers. And certainly, if you review it and have questions, you can certainly call us. Questions to anybody? Anybody?

It was a good presentation. I think you covered everything that needed to be covered in this budget presentations.

I think the important thing to remember is how long the process takes and how long how many meetings and how many conversations that were had with the various departments and Tough conversations in some cases, but yeah, I think it turned out to be a good budget and I'm looking forward to administering it going forward.

And this public hearing was published in our appropriate newspaper on 4-9 on April 9th.

Yep, April 9th.

And there was no public comment sent to the board of supervisors or the budget director?

Nope. And the presentation will be on our website tomorrow morning, if you're interested.

One thing I'd like to say is just to applaud everybody's efforts in working together and putting together this budget. It's a team effort. I believe everybody's kind of pulling in the same direction and not butting heads necessarily. It's a tough conversation, but we respect each other. And that's what makes all this work at the end of the day. One more time, questions?

Anybody? Any questions? Any department head want to say anything or have a question? I'm good.

Okay. Move to close public hearing.

Second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. So the next item we have is Resolution 2026-0049, Compensation Board. The Compensation Board recommendation for elected officials. We had talked through the budget process that it was 3 and 1 half percent across the board for electeds, because that's what we're doing for our employees. Any questions about that? Comments?

I don't have any questions, but I don't have it to put on the screen if you wanted it on the screen.

I don't have it either. It's in the supplemental on the website.

It is.

Yeah. I don't have my computer.

The only comment I'd make is the board's recommendation was 15%. Board of Supervisors reduced that amount to the 3.5% increase. across the board. I move to approve Resolution 2026-0049. Second.

Any discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye, motion carries. Finally, Resolution 2026-0050, talks about the adoption of the FY27 budget. We just did the presentation, so this is just the formal action.

I move to approve Resolution 2026-0050.

Second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye, motion carries. Again, is there any other business to go before the board today?

Move to adjourn.

Second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye, motion carries.