(Atlantic) The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce has announced the featured band for ® RAGBRAI event in July. Pork Tornadoes are an Iowa-based band that’s been called the number one party band in Iowa, and a RAGBRAI favorite. Pork Tornadoes will take to the stage from 9-until 11-p.m. during RAGBRAI’s overnight stay in town on July 22nd.

Pork Tornadoes (from their Facebook page)

In addition, there will be live music the entire day. In the coming weeks, the Atlantic RAGBRAI committee will announce a new band each day on the RAGBRAI Atlantic Facebook page.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Montgomery County Auditor Jill Ozuna reminds resident/business property owners that a recent law change (HF-718) requires county auditors to mail a statement to county taxpayers by March 20 with state-specified information related to proposed local government budgets and proposed property tax rates. (Iowa Code 24.2A) The information is for taxes payable in September 2024 and March 2025.

Ozuna says you should receive a statement if you expect to receive a property tax bill in September. The statement is not a property tax bill. It includes data for proposed city, school district and county budgets but does not include proposed budgets for smaller taxing authorities, such as the community college, assessor’s office, townships, and agricultural extension service.
The budget statement will include information regarding school, county, and city proposed tax rates as well as information about scheduled public hearings regarding the proposed tax rates.

The budget statement will include the following information:
• Date, time, and location of public hearings to consider proposed property tax rates for next fiscal year
• Phone number and website (if applicable) for each associated taxing authority
• Current, effective, and proposed tax rate information
• Comparison of current, effective, and proposed tax rates
• How current taxes levied by the school, county and city are distributed
• Comparison of how taxes would be distributed in the current and proposed budget years

Montgomery County Courthouse (Iowa)

Additional information regarding the budget statement will be made available online at https://dom.iowa.gov/property-taxes on or after March 20, 2024.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Nebraska was arrested this (Tuesday) morning, on a drug charge. 30-year-old Cole Ryan Fitzgerald, of Omaha, was arrested in the area of 221st St./Kesterson Road at around 2:19-a.m. He was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance. Bond was set at $1,000.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Workforce Development is sending its new mobile Iowa Works center to Perry after the announcement that Tyson plans to shut down the pork plant there. Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend recently talked about the setup of the mobile center. “We can do almost all of the services that we provide at the American Job Center in our mobile unit, and it can go anywhere, you know, river to river, border to border,” Townsend says. She says it allows them to make a quick response if there is an unexpected mass layoff, and they can set up in that community and be there as long as needed. Townsend says they can respond to other events as well.

“If we, God forbid, have natural disaster, we can show up and have a place to operate from, it does have a generator, so we don’t have to plug into an electrical outlet to operate,” she says.
Townsend says it doesn’t have to it doesn’t just go to a community for emergencies. “If you’ve got a career fair or you’re an employer that needs to do a lot of hiring all at once you can sign up and we can come out and feel close to career fair right there at the mobile center,” she says.

Townsend encourages anyone who is interested to learn more about the mobile center on the Iowa Work Works website.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that would let state agencies hire private certified public accountants rather than have the state auditor’s office review spending is in limbo in the Iowa House. Senate Republicans approved the bill in February, the first bill to pass the Senate this year. This morning, Republicans on a House subcommittee decided to let the House State Government Committee chair decide the bill’s fate. Republican Representative Michael Bergan of Dorchester, an accountant, is not recommending the committee pass the bill. “There might be some additional costs and added inefficiencies, too,” Bergan, the subcommittee chairman, said after the hearing.

According to the Legislative Services Agency, it could cost up to three times as much to have private CPA firms rather than State Auditor’s Office staff conduct the annual audits, plus Bergan said private CPA audits of state agencies could make it difficult for the state auditor to compile a required annual report on how the state spends federal funds. Brad Epperly, a lobbyist for the Iowa Society of CPAs, said the group is neutral on the bill and he suggested if the bill goes into effect, state agencies would have to hire out-of-state CPA firms to do the work. “As of right now, I don’t know that we have any members that would have the ability to do the audits,” Epperly said.

State Auditor Rob Sand, the only Democrat elected to statewide office, has said letting state agencies pick who audits the books could conceal corruption. Representative Adam Zabner of Iowa City, a Democrat from Iowa City, voted no on the bill in subcommittee. “Auditor Sand does a nice job. To be honest, it really doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what the voters think and they reelected him to come back and be in charge of audits for the State of Iowa,” Zabner said. “I don’t like the idea that the legislature can circumvent that.”

There were a handful of speakers at today’s House subcommittee hearing on the bill and no one spoke in favor of it.