After much debate among the Johnson County Board of Supervisors surrounding potential amendments, the board finalized its fiscal 2027 budget during its formal meeting on April 23.
According to board documents, the total budget is almost $165 million.
Before the meeting took place, the supervisors received correspondence criticizing them for decreasing funding for social services.
At the April 22 work meeting, Supervisor V Fixmer-Oraiz said this is due to a loss of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. They explained this was a once-in-a-lifetime federal infusion of funding that was set to dry up eventually.
“We are feeling those pain points,” Fixmer-Oraiz said. “But I just wanted to be clear to the public that when they see that reduction in social services, it really does pertain to the ARPA funding that was federal and was always going to end.”
During the meeting, the supervisors also received feedback from the public surrounding funding for Escucha Mi Voz, an organization that assists immigrant families with legal services.
Several members of the community spoke with the hopes of convincing the supervisors to amend the budget to include $165,000 for immigrant support services. The supervisors did not approve the amendment.
David Goodner, director of Escucha Mi Voz, said immigrant families are under attack in our country and that the county budget risks making the situation worse locally.
“That’s why we’re asking the board for the fifth year in a row to invest in immigrant family support,” Goodner said. “Right now there’s zero county funding for immigrant legal services.”
Members of the community were similarly upset about an increase in funding for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. During the board’s April 22 work session, Supervisor Rod Sullivan said two-thirds of this funding comes from a contract with the city of Tiffin.
According to the board’s Dec. 6, 2023 meeting agenda, Tiffin will be paying $1,079,966.16 for the fiscal year 2027-28 in exchange for 252 hours worked weekly by deputies from the Johnson County Sheriff’s office.
“We are not paying the vast majority of that,” he said. “The city of Tiffin is, so both of those need a little more context, I would say.”
The supervisors recognized the public is passionate about where funds in our county are going, but said there was some misunderstanding among the public. Fixmer Oraiz said the budget process can be confusing and difficult for the public to absorb.
“As we saw when people came and had a lot of questions about the budget,” Fixmer-Oraiz said. “And even confusing our budget with the school district’s budget, so I do want to acknowledge that.”
What the approved budget includes
The 2027 fiscal budget, which will take effect on July 1, 2026, and will end on June 30, 2027, includes updated property tax rates for Johnson County residents. For urban residents, the new tax rate is 6.24 percent, and for rural residents, the rate is 10.19 percent.
Based on the 2026 fiscal budget, the new property tax rates are lower than the current ones which are 6.73 percent for urban residents and 10.35 percent for rural residents.
According to data from Realtor.com, the median listing for a house in Johnson County is roughly $365,000. In an email to The Daily Iowan, Tara Hinson, the Johnson County real estate deputy, said that based on the residential rollback rate for fiscal year 2027, 44.53 percent, a home with a value of $365,000 would be reduced to a taxable value of $162,551.
The budget also includes $44,418,833 in spending for public safety and legal services. This total includes $20,729,690 allocated toward the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department and $6,179,109 for the Johnson County Attorney’s office.
The public safety and legal services budget represents an over $3,000,000 increase from the 2026 fiscal budget, which allocated $41,121,881 toward public safety and legal services.
While increasing funding toward public safety and legal services, the county is decreasing funding toward physical health and social services for the 2027 fiscal year. The new budget allocates $21,837,581 toward those services, an over $2,200,000 decrease from the 2026 budget that allocated $24,117,756 toward those same services.
Before the certification of the budget, Chair Jon Green gave his fellow supervisors an opportunity to voice any of their concerns with the proposed fiscal budget.
“With the conversations that we have had,” Green said.“I simply wish to give supervisors an opportunity, if there is anything in the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget that would cause you to vote against its certification.”