Johnson County Wastewater staff asked the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday to give the wastewater general manager permanent authority to approve deferments and to waive deferment terminations for capital finance charges under the consolidated main sewer district’s charter resolution framework.

Susan Pekaric, director of Johnson County Wastewater, told commissioners the county has followed an annual authorization process since 2019 and sought to make the authority permanent to avoid repeated annual board actions. "This is really for the board to authorize the general manager to review and then reinstate, deferment from capital finance charge for those properties that are eligible for that," Pekaric said.

Pekaric provided summary figures at the request of Commissioner Brewer: the wastewater division currently has 210 parcels deferred, totaling just over 2,100 acres and accounting for about $813,000 that qualify for deferment and are currently deferred. She said the annual review typically evaluates parcel eligibility by examining whether a property is developing or still in agricultural or single‑family residential use.

Commissioners raised governance and oversight questions. Brewer asked whether board members would continue to receive annual summaries so policy makers could monitor scope and fiscal implications; Pekaric said staff would provide an annual report on deferments and the criteria applied during reviews. Commissioner Ashcraft asked about maintaining arm’s‑length review to ensure deferments meet policy intent; staff said objective criteria guide the administrative review and that examples could be shared.

At the agenda-review meeting, commissioners did not adopt a permanent authorization; they discussed options for maintaining transparency, including an annual report or threshold triggers for when board review would be required.