Cerro Gordo supervisors approve FY 2020 budget

MASON CITY — The Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors today approved the county’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget that starts in July.

Budget director Heather Mathre says the total countywide levy will be going down this year by about six cents.  The levy will be at $6.13 per $1,000 assessed valuation. The general basic levy and the general supplemental levy stay steady, each at $3.50 and $1.77. The mental health levy is 54-cents. The debt service levy, which covers the law enforcement center bond issue, is 32-cents.

Mathre says public safety, roads and transportation, and physical health & social services make up 65% of the budget. 28% is earmarked for public safety & legal services, which includes the jail, sheriff’s office, county attorney and child support recovery. Roads & transportation covers 20% of the budget. Physical health & social services makes 17% of the budget, which includes public health department, assistance to veterans, general assistance to taxpayers, and a variety of funding to outside agencies.

Supervisor Casey Callanan says he appreciated the hard work that Mathre and the department heads did on preparing what he called a good and fair budget.   “We’re able to drop the levy a little bit, not as much as we’d like, but in order to be prudent with changes that sometimes are out of our realm, whether it’s health insurance or the business property backfill, we’re always cautious into doing too much and then not having enough to make sure that the services are being provided to the citizens of Cerro Gordo County. I just thank everyone. It’s one of the biggest tasks that we as a board deal with every year, and I think it’s the most important too.”

The supervisors approved the budget unanimously. You can see more about the budget by clicking at the following link Cerro Gordo Budget FY2020