WASHINGTON

The only actions taken by the Washington County Board of Supervisors in their first meeting of 2025 on Thursday, Jan. 2 were a vote to retain Richard Young as chairman and Bob Yoder as vice-chairman and approval of supervisor assignments, with a few changes, to various commissions, boards, and committees. The remainder of the less than hour-long session, resulted in a deferral of final payment to Mid West Contractors, Cedar Falls, for the patching on various county roads because the board did not have the exact amount, estimated to be “about $30,000.” It will be on next week’s agenda.

Major discussion, debate and voting was on the first resolution of 2025, which was voted down and followed discussion about an election for Certain Taxes for Emergency Medical Services. It opened with a correction in the listing that it was ‘medical’ not ‘management’ services, although it was right in the body of the resolution.

Discussion led by supervisor Marcus Fedler, who is the board liaison with the

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Advisory Committee, centered on the 50¢ per $1,000 evaluation recommended by the committee. Passage of the levy requires 60% voter approval. The proposed resolution had given March 4, 2025, for the election and would have met the state code of being published at least 60 days prior.

Had the resolution been approved Tuesday, it would have met a publishing deadline of Jan. 7. But it was not.

Already debated several times in 2024, the key issue was if it should be a 50¢ or 75¢ tax, the total fund difference being $800,000 for the first and $1.2 million for the second for a 15-year period to fund services provided by the county Emergency Ambulance Services.

Urged by county attorney Nathan Repp to pass the resolution, members noted that the committee did not present an actual budget for the department, something deemed needed, and favored holding a work session with the advisory committee to discuss cost and the levy.

Debate included that any vote about the resolution be a called one because it involved a resolution.

After more debate about wording, the 25¢ difference, and the deadline, the board unanimously voted down approval of that would have 2025’s first resolution.

The board expects to have a work session with the advisory committee (possibly Tuesday, Jan. 6), seeking some type of formal budget. In earlier discussion, the suggestion was to have a limit of up to 75¢ per $1,000 valuation, and to go to the higher figure only as necessary.

With the defeat of the final resolution motion after dismissal of two others, it appears that the election may be in September rather than March.