(Atlantic, Iowa) – Thanksgiving is typically the time those at the table loosening their belts to take-in all the goodies, but when it comes to spending, the City of Atlantic is going to be tightening its financial belt. That’s the message City Administrator John Lund essentially conveyed to the Council during their meeting, Wednesday. Lund gave the Council a copy of the Property Tax Report he also gave the City’s Department Heads.

Lund said “It sounds like they’re (The legislature) gonna do more things related to property taxes this year,”and he urged the Council not to wait for their action to happen.

He says “No one likes paying property taxes, but what pays for fire, police, the libraries? Property taxes.

One way to reduce the property tax burden, is through growth: adding more businesses and residents. Lund says the push to establishing more housing units this year in Atlantic is a step in the right direction, but it isn’t easy to accomplish.

It remains to be seen what the Iowa Legislature will do to the property tax system, but it’s clear City Managers in the area are concerned enough to ask their leaders to lobby the legislature not to make any drastic changes, in light of the current economy.

Here is more information on the property tax and how it relates to a city’s financial situation. These documents were prepared by Erin Mullenix, Research Director for the Iowa League of Cities, and made possible courtesy Atlantic City Clerk, Barb Barrick:

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(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who smoke cigarettes are being encouraged to quit — just for today (Thursday). As part of the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout, it’s hoped if smokers can kick the habit for one day, they can make the change permanent. Studies show the average smoker has to try seven times before they quit smoking for good. State health officials say about 17-percent of Iowa adults smoke and 10-percent of high school students.

Anti-smoking advocates are calling for Iowa lawmakers to raise taxes on cigarettes in January. The taxes are now a dollar-36 per pack in Iowa. That’s 45-cents below the national average and four dollars below New York’s taxes. For free help stopping smoking, call the Quitline at 800-QUIT-NOW.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston arrested a man for Failure to Appear in court. 21-year-old Andrew George Mills, of Creston, was arrested at around 10:30-p.m. Wednesday, at his home. He was transported to the Union County Jail and held on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The cost of the items used to prepare a typical Thanksgiving dinner for ten people is up again this year in the annual survey by the American Farm Bureau. A-F-B economist, Roger Cryan, says they pick 12 items for the survey. “The average in the U-S cost 64-dollars, five cents — which was up about 20 percent from last year. And that was last year was up 14 percent from the year before, so that’s a 36 percent increase in two years,” Cryan says. Cryan says the increased cost will be a burden for many, but farmers have done a good job of providing. “I think it’s worth pointing out that even with these increases, this market basket still works out to about six and a half dollars per person for what is essentially a Thanksgiving feast,” he says.

Cryan says general price inflation is part of the reason for the increase. “Inflation has been running at a rate of about seven to nine percent this fall, year over year. That’s about a third of the increase in the food basket and inflation is a serious issue that’s that we’ve been attempting to address general price inflation. It robs consumers and farmers of their buying power,” according to Cryan. He says increased production costs, supply chain issues, and other factors also contributed to the increase. The cost of the 16-pound turkey was up 21 percent from last year to around 29 dollars. Cryan says that’s an average, and you may be able to find some cheaper birds as we get closer to the holiday.

“Since we’ve done the survey, the number of stores that are featuring turkeys in their circulars at discounted prices,” Cryan says. “Those discounts will probably grow. Even though it’s been it’s been a tighter market. And even though there’s been some challenges in the turkey supply chain production is only down about two percent this year at this point compared to last year.” Cryan says the amount farmers make has not increased despite the retail price increase for the products. “The U-S-D-A has put out numbers on a regular basis that show pretty consistently for the last several years that farmers receive about eight percent of the retail price of food purchased for consumption at home,” he says.

Among some of the other items in the survey: the 14-ounce bag of cube stuffing mix is up 69 percent from last year, and frozen pie crusts and whipping cream are up 26 percent. A pound of frozen peas is up 23 percent, dinner rolls are up 22 percent. The can of pumpkin pie mix is up 18 percent, and the gallon of whole milk is up 16 percent. The 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries went against the trend — as it was down about 14 percent.