<p>Millions of dollars have been transferred into a savings account for the county in anticipation of funding emergency expenditures that may arise.</p>
<p>The county council recently passed an ordinance that moved $3 million from the county’s general fund into a rainy day fund that has been scarcely used and hadn’t been touched in about a year.</p>
<p>The move comes at a time when the county is trying to find ways to pay for millions of dollars in road improvements and passed an income tax to pay for an expansion of the Johnson County Law Enforcement Center. The county is also spending $1.5 million on new election equipment.</p>
<p>The county’s financial adviser recommended the move as the county anticipates starting 2020 with about a $16 million dollar surplus, said Josh McCarty, county council president. The county council is the fiscal arm of the county.</p>
<p>“I think it is just a smart and prudent decision for us to put it away for a little while,” McCarty said.</p>
<p>Money from the rainy day fund in the past has been used to pay for needs that arise throughout the year, including making health insurance payments and to pay for other costs that may rise, such as fuel costs for county vehicles. The surplus is expected to be used throughout the year as other needs in the county arise, McCarty said.</p>
<p>“These are the kind of expenses in my mind that we would set the money aside for,” he said.</p>
<p>The county’s rainy day fund had just under $11,000 at the end of 2018, according to county documents.</p>
<p>Rainy day fund records show that the fund had just under $711,000 at the start of 2018. Multiple payments to Anthem Insurance were made throughout 2018, that took the fund down to about $11,000. The fund was not touched in 2019, until the Nov. 19 deposit of $3 million, county records show.</p>
<p>When more money was requested by county departments in the past, the county council would pay for those needs using money from the general fund.</p>
<p>The county council passed an income tax on Johnson County workers earlier this year to fund an expansion of the Johnson County jail, which is expected to cost between $20 million and $25 million. The council is also grappling with how to pay for about $110 million dollars in road work related to Interstate 69 that is being built through the western edge of the county.</p>
<p>Rainy day funds could be used to pay for needs that come up during construction of the jail expansion, such as funding the additional personnel that might be needed, he said.</p>
<p>“It gives us the ability to keep our options open and it gives us some flexibility,” McCarty said. “A time will come when we will need those dollars.”</p>
