Scott County board chairman Tony Knobbe said supervisors should focus on reducing spending and planning for longer term fiscal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and leave economic stimulus to state and federal leaders.
That leadership drew concerns from supervisor Ken Croken, who said the county could have several roles in reviving the economy.
“Ken and I disagree pretty strongly. Our mission is to flatten the curve,” Knobbe told The NSP in a phone interview.
Knobbe said supervisors should be scrutinizing future capital expenditures. “Those are expenses you can move down the road, unless you’re talking about deferred maintenance … But if this lasts longer and we get into an economic tailspin, housing prices drop, and we get into slump like the ‘80s here, then clearly we’d have to cut programs, jobs and other contributions,” Knobbe said.
Croken said “hunkering down” is just part of the supervisors’ response. He would like the board to consider capital infrastructure projects that address longstanding needs, and create jobs.
“What Scott County doesn’t need is more workforce reduction, or more tax burden that is unsupportable. Perhaps we ought to think about which of our potential spending would have the most stimulus effect on our local economy,” Croken told The NSP.
Croken worked with The Blackhawk Hotel in Davenport to host medical personnel. He suggested soliciting temporary camper donations to house more in county campgrounds if needed.
“I believe the county has a more active role to play in all of these matters. When I asked for an emergency meeting to discuss how the county might respond to the growth of infection, he declined to meet. I’m hearing, ‘It’s up to the state,’ or ‘It’s up to the feds.’ Again, the county always adopts a more passive role.”
Supervisor John Maxwell said he wouldn’t oppose Croken’s call for special work sessions.
“I’m willing to sit down and talk about anything. But one thing I’m not for that he mentioned was borrowing money to stimulate the county. That sounds like a disaster to me. I am a ‘no’ on that.”
Knobbe said supervisor discussions should focus on county expenditures, including early discussions to expand the Juvenile Detention Center and jail, which came up during budget discussions this year and last.
“Things we were about to dip our toes into, the JDC, and the jail, those kind of things are what we need to look at,” he said.
Knobbe said the pandemic has lowered arrest numbers, and led to fewer detentions, and more early releases.
“As we as society make adjustments at this time, our behaviors, policy and law, we have to consider how that impacts previous discussions. And we discover we can live without this rule or that law; I think we as a society owe it to ourselves before we put this back in place, to ask, do we really need this? I’ll be on watch for those things before we re-implement fees and regulations,” Knobbe said.
