IOWA CITY

More than 100 parents living in Johnson County would benefit financially from a pilot income initiative brought to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors at its work session Dec. 6.

Proposed to the Board by Lynette Jacoby, Social Services Director, and Danielle Pettit-Majewski, Public Health Director, the Basic Income initiative would provide $500 per month for two years for 110 Johnson County families that would be selected from a pool of eligible residents.

A similar program, the UpLift Central Iowa Basic Income Program, is being run in Polk, Warren and Dallas counties.

Eligibility would include those 18 and over who were under 50% of area median incomes. The program would be part of a research project being run by the University of Pennsylvania and University of Iowa.

Jacoby said the program’s financial requests are $1.5 million from Johnson County, $793,000 in private donors and $500,000 in corporate or municipal donors.

Johnson County funds would likely come from interest money earned on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

Supervisor Jon Green of Lone Tree was in favor of the initiative, while Supervisors Rod Sullivan and Lisa Green-Douglass raised questions about the finances.

“I think this sort of initiative is especially important because from a public policy poverty viewpoint, two of the biggest lessons from the pandemic were the old ways were not working and we didn’t have to do things the old way,” Green said. “I really hope we can find a way to do this.”

The proposal, even if approved, may end after the 24-month pilot stage.

“It’s better for people to have this stuff for two years than to never have it,” Sullivan said.

Green-Douglass, the board’s chair, was concerned how the financing would affect decisions down the road “if the goal is for this to be a forever thing.”

“I heard from the day I got on this board, we can’t obligate a future board’s funding decision,” Green-Douglass said. “And that would be a funding decision for a future board.”

ARPA Deadlines

A new interim final rule issued by the U.S. Treasury is amending some of the requirements associated with planned Johnson County projects being funded by American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The county’s ARPA team updated the Board with those changes at its work session.

Obligations for all projects must be submitted by Dec. 31, 2024, per federal rules. The Johnson County ARPA team is moving that date up to June 2024 so that enough time is in place for changes and approvals. The projects will be a part of the budgeting process, which begins this month and goes through March 2024.

Per federal rules, all ARPA money must be spent by the end of 2026.

Board Action

The Board approved an amendment with the University of Iowa for the Direct Assistance Impact Project.

The Board approved an amendment to the Johnson County Social Services Block Grant for Shelter House.

Next meeting: The Board’s next formal session is at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 14. The monthly evening session will include a number of rezoning and platting requests.