Hearing discusses Floyd County maximum tax levy rates

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Only two people showed up for a Floyd County public hearing on property taxes Tuesday morning, but they were part of a lively discussion regarding increasing tax bills and the county services they pay for.

The hearing at the county Board of Supervisors meeting was part of a new Iowa law that requires cities and counties to hold two public hearings before they approve their annual budgets each year.

Barb and Bob McMurchy, retired rural landowners, had questions about the property taxes the county plans to collect for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1.

Under the maximum tax resolution that was published for the public hearing, if the tax rates stay the same as the current year, Floyd County will collect an additional $294,000 in taxes from all county property owners next year, and an additional $206,620 from people who own property in the rural, unincorporated areas of the county.

Those figures represent a 6.46% increase in the total general service and supplemental taxes collected from the entire county, and a 10.8% increase in the rural services property taxes collected from the rural areas of the county.

“Our taxes went up $1,500 from last year, which is 10% from last year,” Barb McMurchy said. “Now if we get another 10% — the rural people can’t continue to absorb that much of an increase, and that does not even include the hospital or NIACC, who are also requesting money now.

“We cannot keep these taxes going up the way they are,” she said. “There has to be some fiscal responsibility here. If we can’t afford something, we don’t buy it, but it seems like all these government agencies now they think all they have to do is ask and they will receive.”

Supervisor Roy Schwickerath said that the proposed tax levy for the county is not going up for the new fiscal year.

“If your taxes go up on the county this year, it would be because the value of your property changed,” he said.

The reason that the county would collect more than half a million dollars in additional property taxes next fiscal year at the same levy rate is because total assessed taxable valuation in the county increased by more than $56 million.

County Auditor Gloria Carr said that part of that is due to new construction in the county, part is due to changes in individual property value assessments based on sales prices for similar properties, and part of it is because the Valero ethanol plant, which was receiving a property tax abatement, will begin paying full property taxes.

“Your own (property) value may or may not have gone up,” Carr said.

The main reason for the jump in county taxes in the current fiscal year was the addition of $1.09 per $1,000 of taxable valuation for debt service, to begin paying for the new law enforcement center project, she said.

Schwickerath said, “It’s paying for the $13½ million project we’re working on to build a new jail, which went to the voters and people either voted for or against.”

Legislation passed by the state last year requires an additional public hearing by counties and cities to tell people the maximum tax levy rate that is being proposed. Once the hearing is held and the body passes a resolution setting those values, the levy rate can be reduced but cannot be increased from the level set in the resolution.

The requirement was proposed as a “transparency” measure by proponents who said often cities or counties collect more property taxes because property valuation increases, even if they say the actual tax levy rate did not increase.

Also at the supervisors’ regular meeting Tuesday morning:

• Three people spoke during the public comments part of the meeting regarding a proposed ATV and UTV ordinance the supervisors discussed Monday.

Dave Sargeant and Jay Jung both said they were concerned about a part of the proposal that would not allow all-terrain vehicles and utility task vehicles on hard-surfaced county roads where the speed limit is 55 mph.

Sergeant said the only way to get into most towns is over hard-surfaced roads, and Jung said the only access to his property is over such roads.

Sergeant also said he was concerned that a suggested speed limit of 35 mph for ATVs and UTVs could cause problems if other vehicles on the same roads are traveling at 55 mph.

Douglas Lindaman said he thought it was a good idea for the county to look at an ATV/UTV ordinance, but wanted to emphasize that people have already been using such vehicles on the roads in the past for farm-related activities.

• Supervisors approved a contract with Christensen Bros. of Cherokee for $501,800 to replace the bridge on county road S70 over Flood Creek in the northwestern corner of the county.

• Supervisors approved a contract with Mathy Construction Co. of Onalaska for $2.76 million for hot-mix asphalt resurfacing with milling on county road T38 from Highway 14 to the Mitchell County line.