By Sam Parsons

The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors held a regular meeting this morning and approved a 28E agreement for police protection services with the city of Leighton.

The Board also discussed police protection with Keomah Village. A few months ago, county officials notified cities that usually contract with the county for police protection that costs were going up, and officials in Keomah Village said that their rate had grown beyond their annual property tax revenue, making the proposed agreement untenable. Mahaska County had proposed to charge $14,990 per year to Keomah Village for police protection; Keomah Village councilmember Mark DeJong brought some numbers to the board to show why he thought that arrangement disproportionately affected Keomah Village.

DeJong initially proposed for the county to charge Keomah Village $4,567 for police protection in the upcoming fiscal year, but later said that the upper bound number for what they thought was fair would be $5,928. 

The board agreed that their initial proposed number of $14,990, which was based on the valuation of the city, wasn’t appropriate for Keomah Village, with board member Steve Wanders saying that they knew that from the start.

Ultimately, no official action was taken, but DeJong and the board agreed to revisit the discussion at a future meeting with the proposal of $5,928 as the basis of a new agreement.

The next regular meeting for the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors is scheduled for April 7.