It does not take 5 people to balance a budget for a small county. Tama County was never “broke”. The current board of 5 grossly exaggerated that fact and facts with regard to the budget are coming.

With 5 supervisors, they barely work 5 hours per week. The 5 hours calculates to 260 hours per year. Now, take a roughly $40,000 salary and divide that by 260. Wow! $153 per hour. On top of this, they get full benefits, if they choose to. These hours include all the other boards that each is assigned to. For example there is Landfill, EMA/911, Conservation, etc. Some of these boards meet once a month, twice a month, four times a year or only when requested.

The current board of 5 recently gave themselves a raise. This raise was from tax dollars designated for mileage; it was just shifted to their salary. What happened to transparency? Now, instead of having to turn in mileage, they automatically get paid for it. How many of you get paid for mileage to show up at your job?

When we had 3 supervisors, each was assigned a day during the week to be present in their office in Toledo for taxpayers to come and discuss whatever was on their mind. Of those 3, 2 showed up on the day assigned. The 3rd one, a current member of the board of 5, maybe showed up 2 or 3 times a year. Of the current 5 supervisors, only 1 is present more than just for the Board of Supervisor meeting on Mondays. When we get back to 3, I would not rule this one out if he runs again.

Tama County has a population of 17,135. That is roughly 5,700 per district for 3 supervisors; a VERY manageable amount in comparison to Linn County with 3 supervisors at 75,000 each in population.

By going back to 3 Board of Supervisor Members, we save the taxpayers $128,332 and we make those 3 earn their wages and benefits.

3 IS ENOUGH!!!!

MJ Cherveny, Toledo