Budget time: Money sought for park ranger, emergency management, WIC

County conservation, emergency management and Mid-Sioux Opportunities' directors made 2010-11 budgets requests Tuesday.

The Plymouth County Supervisors did not make any decisions stating, instead, they will discuss all department's requests next week when they begin digging into budget preparation.

The first work session will be Monday.

Conservation department

Dennis Sohl, conservation director, said his 2010-11 budget is about $50,000 larger than the current year.

The conservation's 2009-10 budget is $433,571 and the new budget would be $484,215, a difference of $50,644, which is an 11.68 percent increase.

Sohl said the new budget includes several additions, including startup costs like utilities and hiring a part-time worker for the Education Conservation Opportunities (ECO) Center.

He would also like to keep two seasonal employees for nine months and two for three months. Currently all four work three months during the summer, Sohl said.

The nine-month employee would work with the conservation department's naturalist helping with programs and also do other maintenance, Sohl said.

"We just didn't want to add another full-time position because it would really be an exorbitant increase to our budget," Sohl said. "We just wanted to do our part as part of the whole county in not increasing the county's overall budget."

Supervisor Jim Henrich questioned whether Sohl would be able to find anyone willing to work just nine months out of the year.

"It's an internship position," Sohl said. "It gives them experience across more seasons and makes them more employable for full-time positions."

Another increase in the conservation department's budget is the cost of sending Jeremy Kettman, current park technician, to the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, Sohl said.

"I'm planning to promote him to a park ranger and that will entail some additional, mandated training," Sohl said.

Emergency Management

Gary Junge, emergency management director, presented the supervisors with a $86,014 budget for 2010-11, which is lower than the current $87,591.

In the new budget Junge's request from Plymouth County for a $47,800 contribution to the emergency management department is down from $49,377 in 2009-10.

Also, the department has kept an $86,294 five-year average budget by making adjustments, changes and other cutbacks within to keep it as low as possible, Junge said.

"We haven't had a lot of fluctuation up or down there," Junge said. "I would like you to take that into consideration too when you're looking at the budget."

Mid-Sioux Opportunity

Dick Sievers, Mid-Sioux Opportunity director, asked the supervisors for a $10,000 contribution to its program -- the same amount requested the last several years.

For 2009-10 supervisors gave $6,500 to Mid-Sioux for its services, which include Head Start, Early Head Start, Women, Infants and Children (WIC), energy assistance and home weatherization.

In Plymouth County, Mid-Sioux served 2,524 individuals in 951 households last year, Sievers said.

"With the economy the way it is, I think that our services are more important than ever," he said. "We are seeing an increase in the number of folks applying for services."

Sievers also pointed out that Mid-Sioux Opportunities' main office is in Remsen and the organization may be, if not the largest, one of the largest employers in the city.

"We have about 42 people I believe who work out of our Remsen office either on a full-time or part-time basis," Sievers said.

The about $2 million in stimulus dollars awarded to Mid-Sioux Opportunity this past year are being put to good use, with the majority of the money being used for home weatherization, Sievers said.

"In the past we've probably weatherized 30 to 40 homes a year -- over the next three years we'll probably do about 300 homes," Sievers said. "So there's a pretty substantial increase there."

Working with that program means hiring local contractors and purchasing more weatherization materials locally -- all of which also help area businesses, Sievers said.

"We have added about four additional jobs because of our stimulus funding as well," he said. "Really we were probably able to save about five jobs that we really would probably have eliminated."

Supervisor Gordon Greene asked Sievers what will happen next year if the stimulus money runs out.

"I really don't know," Sievers said. "If the stimulus money goes away, then some of those jobs will be lost too."

Sievers said some of the stimulus money that wasn't designated for weatherization was also used to help other community organizations pay for for their services.

He also spoke of Mid-Sioux Opportunity longevity as it will celebrate 45 years in existence in 2010.

"I think the reason we have been able to stay around that long is because of the local support that we do have from local government, local churches, community organizations, good board members and volunteers," Sievers said. "We appreciate your support."