(Cass Co) The Cass County Board of Supervisors this morning approved allocating American Rescue Plan Act funds to Cass County EMA for the Rural EMS Pilot Grant in the amount of $25,000.
Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon explained the Rural EMS program.
Kennon said another part of this is they will work with dispatch to geo-locate the five closest volunteers that are near an incident.
Applications must be submitted by May 1st. The funding from the county is contingent on the grant being accepted.
The Supervisors also approved the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget and Certification of Taxes following a public hearing in which there were no comments.
With lower valuation, and increased expenses, the levy rate per $1,000 taxable valuation is at 5.19274 for Urban Areas and 9.24274 for Rural Areas. This is an overall 8.83% increase over FY23, but only a 2.98% increase from FY22. (Note: the levy rate went down -5.29% in FY23)
Highlights of the budget: Taxable valuation is 0.39% ($5,217,856) less than FY23. The state changed the residential rollback midway through the budget process from 56.49% to 54.60%. The health insurance renewal originally came in 13.3% higher, but the county received a second option at -9.65% midway through the budget season, allowing a substantial savings to the county in FY24. Wages will increase 6% for most employees and 8.1% for the Sheriff’s Department. The County has been saving to make capital improvements to secondary roads facilities and the HVAC system at the courthouse. Funds will continue to be saved toward these goals. By the end of FY2024, the fund balance should be $3,947,810.
In other action, the Supervisors approved a waiver of the $14.00 tax penalty for Valley Business Park Property taxes due March 31st that were paid by the buyer, but need to be paid by the seller (Valley Business Park Corporation) instead. The board approved the appointments of Stephanie Witzman as a Civil Process Server and Tabetha Smith RN as an additional Medical Examiner Investigator. They also approved hiring Hanna Richter as Accounts Payable/Elections Administrator in the Auditor’s Office at $18.00 per hour.
