County attorney says he will seek higher fee from city for ordinance prosecutions

County Attorney Jim Berry told the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 15 that he plans to approach the city to negotiate an increase in the county’s fee for prosecuting city ordinance violations under the existing memorandum of understanding.

Berry said the MOU—established in 2014—currently provides $40,000 per year to the county for handling specified ordinance prosecutions, paid in quarterly installments of $10,000. He told the board the county is prosecuting more city-filed cases now than it did when the arrangement was set in 2014 and that there has been no fee increase since that time.

Berry said he intends to notify the city by Jan. 15, 2026, if he proceeds, so any change would take effect July 1, 2026. He described the proposal as seeking a fee that is “more commensurate with the services being provided,” and said he has not yet taken any formal action. The proposal was presented as a heads-up to the board rather than an item for immediate action.

Supervisors asked whether the county should consider a variable fee tied to the amount of service rendered instead of a flat annual payment. Berry said a flat fee has accounting advantages and avoids the need to track individual cases, but acknowledged trade-offs and that a different arrangement could create accounting workload and potential requests from the city for detailed accounting.

No motion was taken at the Sept. 15 meeting. Berry said he raised the subject so supervisors would be aware if city officials contact them about the MOU. The board did not set a formal negotiating instruction, timeline or dollar figure during the meeting.