IOWA CITY

The hourly rate paid by small cities to Johnson County for police protection is scheduled to rise $2 on July 1, from $47 to $49.

Some county supervisors say that rate should go even higher, given that the total hourly cost for a Johnson County deputy officer is around $80 an hour, including benefits.

“I just feel like we should be a whole lot closer to cost,” Supervisor Chair Lisa Green-Douglass said during the board’s May 31 work session.

“I generally agree with Lisa that I think it’s too low and I think we need to work to bring it up some,” said Supervisor Rod Sullivan.

Johnson County’s Sheriff’s Department provides law enforcement to a number of small cities on a contractual basis. Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty have their own police departments, but many others don’t, including Lone Tree and Hills.

Lone Tree’s Fiscal Year 2024 contract calls for $66,248 in coverage, Hills for $35,672. In addition to regular patrols, the county provides assistance for any calls, traffic accidents or other incidents.

“They really seem to like our presence and don’t like to see the hours cut,” said Brad Kunkel, Johnson County Sheriff. “Getting to 100% (pay), I don’t know if that’s feasible for a city like Hills. It would break them. I don’t think Lone Tree could ever afford to go to 90 bucks an hour.”

The biggest contract in the next year will be between the county and Tiffin for nearly $240,000. It requires regular patrols in the growing city, but Kunkel estimated the start-up cost of a police department in any of the cities to approach $1 million. A bigger increase in hourly charges could result in fewer hours of police protection or the elimination of a city staffer, supervisors said.

“It will never be cheaper for them to have their own police department,” Kunkel said. “It will always be cheaper to contract with the sheriff.”

“It’s either going to come out of their budget or it’s going to come out of ours,” Sullivan said. “I think it’s got to be kind of a shared pain, if you will.”

The supervisors are scheduled to vote on the law-enforcement contracts Thursday, June 8.

Admin/HHS Project

Following a public hearing and board approval of the Administration and Health & Human Services (HHS) building projects at the June 1 formal session, bid letting on the complex project began Tuesday.

The project includes an estimated $6.4 million remodel of its administration building on South Dubuque Street in Iowa City and a remodel of the third floor of the HHS building. Among the changes will be a new board room.

Construction is expected to begin by August and be completed by January 2025.

Bids will be accepted until 2 p.m. July 13 and contracts are expected to be awarded one week later by the Board of Supervisors.

OPN Architects of Iowa City is the project’s lead designer and engineer.

Board Action

The Board approved 24 social services block grant agreements for a combined $1.84 million, including $127,785 to CommUnity Crisis Services and Food Bank and $700,400 to Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County.

The Board approved three Hunger Relief grants totaling $100,000, including $57,000 to CommUnity Crisis Services and Food Bank.

The Board set 9 a.m. June 15 as the public-hearing date for its monthly session on zoning and platting requests.

The Board issued a proclamation in honor of Gun Violence Awareness Day, June 2.

Next board meeting: The board will hold its next formal meeting at 5:30 p.m. June 8.