Supervisors initiate six-month pause on local development of commercial solar energy

By Rick Morain
Jefferson Herald

The Greene County Board of Supervisors on Monday stated their intent to work with county attorney Thomas Laehn to establish a six-month moratorium on commercial solar energy development in the county.
A 1,300-acre solar panel array is being proposed for development a couple of miles south of Grand Junction. Some of the land is being purchased by the solar company, and other portions are being leased.
The board of supervisors noted that Senate File 2127 has been introduced in the Iowa Legislature, which if enacted would establish regulations for solar panel array fields in Iowa.

Shelly Fouch and Mary Ellen Holz, who live near the proposed location for the solar field, thanked the board for its intention to enact a moratorium. They proposed several requirements for solar fields, including a half-mile setback from homes and a maximum corn suitability rating (CSR) of 65 on land that houses solar arrays. They said that 10 homes in their area would be affected by the proposed solar field.
Also at the Monday board meeting, Jefferson City Administrator Mike Palmer presented his monthly update on development activity in the Jefferson community.    

At their Feb. 10 meeting several days earlier, the supervisors approved salary levels for the county’s elected officials for fiscal year 2022-23, beginning July 1.
The board approved the county compensation board’s recommendations for the county attorney, sheriff, auditor, treasurer and recorder. Those salaries and percentage increases from the current year’s salaries are as follows (this year’s salaries in parentheses):

    County attorney, 15 percent increase, $123,100 ($107,043).
    County sheriff, 15 percent increase, $97,066 ($84,406).
    County auditor, 10 percent increase, $73,141 ($66,492).
    County treasurer, 10 percent increase, $70,702 ($64,274).
    County recorder, 8 percent increase, $69,555 ($64,402).

The compensation board had recommended eight percent increases for each of the five county supervisors. The supervisors reduced that increase to seven percent. Their salaries for 2022-23 will be $32,536 each, seven percent higher than their current $30,408 salary.

The vote on the supervisor salaries for 2022-23 was 4 to 1, with supervisors Pete Bardole, Mick Burkett, John Muir and Dawn Rudolph voting yes and supervisor Tom Contner voting no. Contner said he would not vote to raise his own pay, and would return his increase to the county.

The vote on the other elected officials’ salaries was also 4 to 1, with the same supervisors voting ‘yes’ and Contner voting no. Contner said he favored the compensation board’s recommendations for the increase levels for the attorney and sheriff, but not for the other elected officials.

On the subject of the salary increases, Rudolph said she was not totally in favor of the recommendations, but Iowa law leaves little room for compromise for the various officials. She added that the board needs to look at the whole economy. Muir said the salaries reflect the office, not the individual official. He wonders if the salaries are sustainable at the new levels.
In other action at the Feb. 10 meeting, the board set the date of its Feb. 28 meeting at 9 a.m. for a public hearing on the maximum dollars to be levied for the county’s 2022-23 fiscal year budget. The board reviewed the proposed public notice for property tax levy rates and dollars to be generated in both the general and rural services areas of the budget.

The notice includes increases for union-related salaries and wages, library funding modifications, insurance coverage and other adjustments recommended by the board since its previous meeting. Seven percent increases to non-elected and non-deputy positions are included. The notice is being published in the Jefferson Herald and Scranton Journal prior to the hearing.

Auditor Jane Heun reviewed the proposed levy rate dollars to be raised. Both the general services dollars and rural services dollars proposed to be generated exceed current levels by more than two percent. Because of that fact, four of the five supervisors must vote ‘yes’ on the maximum dollars proposed in order for the budget to be approved.
The proposed budget for Greene County government in 2022-23 calls for maximum property taxes for general services of $4,900,015, compared to $4,583,055 in the current 2021-22 fiscal year, an increase of $316,960 or 6.92 percent. Those tax dollars come from all taxable property in the county.