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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Radio Iowa)- Business owners in Mount Pleasant say the closure of Iowa Wesleyan University announced Tuesday is going to be felt around the entire community. Roger Beckman and his brother Dale have owned Main Street Pizza in downtown Mount Pleasant for 32 years. Beckman tells K-C-R-G TV about 20 percent of his business comes from the students. “We have some students that come once or twice a week,” School leaders say there are around 800 students enrolled at the university and 110 staff.
Beckman hopes if any good news was to come out of Wesleyan shutting down, that the building could be repurposed for the community. “Hopefully, they won’t want to hold onto it and let the cobwebs grow,” said Beckman. “Hopefully, something good will come out of it.”
The U-S-D-A helped the school refinance to try to turn things around, but they continued to face financial issues. The U-S-D-A ill take ownership of the campus at the end of the school year in June.
(Radio Iowa) – A bill that would have set a few new ground rules for carbon pipelines has stalled in the Senate. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, led debate of the bill in the House, where it passed on a 73-to-20 vote. “The legislation’s one of the most important things we could have done this session,” Holt says.
The bill would have required that 90 percent of a carbon pipeline’s route be secured through voluntary agreements before eminent domain authority from the state could be used to compel other landowners to sign easements. “A lot of concerned citizens across the state of Iowa do not want their property taken for this project — an economic development project and I’m disappointed,” Holt says.
Today (Thursday) is the last day of the legislature’s work week and also the deadline for policy bills from the House to have cleared a Senate committee. Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville says Republicans who control the senate’s debate agenda could have at least scheduled a subcommittee hearing on the bill. “I think that if the bill would have come to the floor, it would have had strong majority support,” Wahls says, “so I was surprised.”
It’s possible some of the elements of the bill could be tacked onto a budget bill next month. There’s also a chance state regulators’ review of the pipeline projects might extend into early 2024. Holt says that means it might be possible for next year’s legislature to revisit the issue. “Dynamics can change around here very quickly around here when it’s an election year and people begin to hear a lot from their constituents, so we’ll see where it goes.” Holt says, “My concern about waiting a year, obviously, is that eminent domain could already be in process for some of our land owners, but maybe the process will not be that far along, so we’ll see.”
The proposed Wolf pipeline to capture carbon from A-D-M plants is about 300 miles long and the developer says it’s getting voluntary access to the route and will not need to seek eminent domain authority. The other pipeline developers are expected to ask the Iowa Utilities Board for eminent domain authority to secure easements from landowners who haven’t voluntarily granted access to their properties. Navigator’s pipeline would stretch about 800 miles through 33 Iowa counties.
The Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline would be about 680 miles long and pass through 29 counties. Advocates say the pipelines will make ethanol a low-carbon fuel by capturing and shipping carbon from Iowa ethanol plants to underground storage sites in Illinois and North Dakota.
(March 29, 2023) – Officials with Diamond Vogel and Keep Iowa Beautiful, Wednesday, announced the grant awards for the 2023 Paint Iowa Beautiful program. The program provides free paint to a wide variety of public service projects throughout Iowa. In the 20-year partnership with Keep Iowa Beautiful, Diamond Vogel has awarded over 13,270 gallons of paint for 1,438 community projects in Iowa.
In addition to paint projects, join over 30 communities participating in Keep Iowa Beautiful’s Pick Up Iowa annual program by cleaning up litter and trash along Iowa’s roadsides, neighborhoods, streets, school grounds, parks, and streams. Encourage your community mayor, city council or county supervisors to announce several days or a week as PICK-UP YOUR COMMUNITY. Pick-Up Iowa is being held through July 31st, 2023 on any dates that work for your community. To participate you must register your group/organization at https://keepiowabeautiful.org/get-involved/community-outreach-opportunities/pick-up-iowa/. The first 35 communities who sign up will be awarded a $50 reimbursement that can be utilized to purchase supplies for the pick-up event.
2023 Paint Awards (local list):
(By Community; Organization name; Areas to be painted; Name of person submitting)
(Atlantic, Iowa) – Public Hearings were held Wednesday at the Atlantic High School Media Center, with regard to a five-year extension of the current Instructional Support Levy (ISL). A second hearing was with regard to the 2023-24 School Calendar. There were no comments submitted during the meeting. The Board took action to approve both matters later on during their session. The School Board also approved pay application number #3 for the High School Air Quality Project for $116,825.00.
The Board also set their meeting on April 12th at 5:30-p.,m., as the date and time for a Public Hearing on the Certified Budget. The proposed property tax rate for the 2024 budget is $13.00317 per one thousand dollars of valuation. You can view the budget as published, below.
The Board approved several resignations, including:
They approved contract recommendations that had been proposed by Superintendent Steve Barber, including:
(Radio Iowa) – New property tax valuations are starting to go out and some people may suffer sticker shock when they see the increase. Sioux City Assessor, Tyler Erickson, says they have to do the valuations every two years to ensure valuations are within five percent of market value. “This state actually takes all of our sales and they tell us compared to last year’s values your sales are 25 percent undervalued. We have to raise those values. If we do not raise those values, the state will come in the fall and raise them all up,” Erickson says. He says they use to measure in determining your value.
“We use the cost approach and we use the sales approach,” Erickson says, “and the reason we use that is cost resale should fairly come out. We value off cost and then we adjust for the market that it sits in.” He says the market adjustment ensures your home is being valued based on the sale of homes in your neighborhood that are comparable in cost. Erickson says your taxes don’t automatically go up the same about as the assessed value because there is a state rollback.
“If you look at your tax statement that you get in the mail, you have an assessed value and you have a taxable value. That taxable value is after the state rollback and it is drastically less than your assessed value, usually about 50 percent. It’s expected to go up in the 60 percent range, mid 60s and possibly 70 percent range,” he says.
Erickson says they are already getting calls from upset homeowners after assessments went out. He says you can appeal and should look at the comparable home sales in your neighborhood to see how much difference there is between the valuation and area sales.
(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa-based group that aims to help farmers practice a form of agriculture that benefits both the land and the people is working to recruit new members, especially in northwest Iowa. Practical Farmers of Iowa agronomist Sarah Carlson says the issue of water quality is one key area where they’ve determined they can start discussions with potential members.
Carlson says crop rotation, cover crops, and grazing all help to reduce nitrate loss and reduce erosion, which are two of the biggest water pollutants. Some of the older concepts are still very much workable, especially with precision agriculture, which Carlson says has led to a new term, precision conservation.
She says P-F-I works with farmers to diagnose trouble spots, get them out of production and into some sort of conservation project.
(Radio Iowa) – Key lawmakers in the Iowa House are working on changes in a Senate bill that would let state agencies refuse to release information to the state auditor’s office. Representative Michael Bergan, a Republican from Dorchester who’s an accountant, said the bill as currently written could endanger federal funding for state government agencies.
“I recognize there might be some challenges with the language the way it is,” Bergan said today during a House subcommittee hearing. “We are certainly open to some amendments on how we can correct some of those issues.”
A lobbyist for the Iowa Society of Certified Public Accountants said the bill would also impact the ability of private sector CPAs to conduct audits of Iowa cities and counties. The bill is scheduled for debate in a House Committee tomorrow.
The Republican who led debate of the bill in the Senate says it would protect the private of things like income tax returns, while letting the state auditor’s office have access to information that’s relevant for an audit. Representative Amy Nielsen, a Democrat from North Liberty, said Republicans are trying to limit the authority of State Auditor Rob Sand, the only Democrat holding statewide office. “I think that this bill is crazy inappropriate for us to be even looking at,” Nielsen said during the subcommittee hearing. “…We’re picking on the person in the office, not the office with this bill.”
Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, replied: “This has nothing to do with the individual holding the current office, from my personal perspective…I think there’s been a lot of points brought up by the auditor’s office and I think there’s been some conversations about some language changes and I look forward to working with everyone.”
State Auditor Rob Sand said Kaufmann and other House members are giving officials from his office an opportunity to have input on proposed changes in the bill and he hopes they can come up with an alternative that’s reasonable. Sand has said the Senate-passed legislation would limit the ability of his office to investigate allegations of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money.
(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday morning in a Special Session. According to the minutes of the meeting provided by Auditor/Board Secretary Mark Maxwell, the Board held a Public Hearing on the Maximum Tax resolution. There were no comments in any form submitted by the public, therefore the Resolution was approved as follows:
WHEREAS, the Shelby County Board of Supervisors have considered the proposed FY2024 county maximum property tax dollars for both General County Services and Rural County Services, and WHEREAS, a notice concerning the proposed county maximum property tax dollars was published as required and posted on county web site and or social media accounts if applicable, WHEREAS a public hearing concerning the proposed county maximum property tax dollars was held on March 28th, 2023. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Shelby County that the maximum property tax dollars for General County Services and Rural County Services for FY2024 shall not exceed the following: General County Services $ 5,269,301.00 Rural County Services $2,592,000.00. The Maximum Property Tax dollars requested in either General County Services will be limited to an increase of 108.58% and Rural County Services for FY2024 represents a maximum increase of 108% from the Property Tax dollars requested for FY2023.
The Shelby County Supervisors also passed a Resolution on the County Budget Estimate for FY 2024….
BE IT RESOLVED on this 28th day of March 2023, the Board of Supervisors of Shelby County, Iowa, met in special session for filing and considering the estimate of the County Budget for FY2024. There was present a quorum as required by law. Entry record for filing of said budget estimate was established and approved for publication. The Board, being fully advised, find that the date of the hearing on said estimate should be fixed, and it does fix, the 18th day of April 2023, at the hour of 9:00 A.M. as the date and time of hearing to be held at the Supervisor’s Chambers in the Courthouse in Shelby County, Iowa. The above and foregoing resolution was adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Shelby County, Iowa, on March 28th, 2022, the vote thereon being as follows: Ayes: Steve Kenkel and Charles Parkhurst and Bryce Schaben. Nays: None
Afterward. they considered a Shelby County 28-E Law enforcement agreement with the City of Harlan. Sheriff Neil Gross spoke to relay some details about the positive expectations of the agreement if passed today. Including retaining and hiring employees to a larger department may render those processes easier and less costly.
Amy Haas then spoke and voiced her opinion that it is not a good idea for the City of Harlan to lose the police department, losing control of the city is a concern. Getting applicants for future staffing was also a mentioned concern.
Todd Valline spoke and suggested to Sheriff Gross that his department reassure other communities with 28E Law Enforcement agreements with Shelby County that services will not be changed with this agreement.
Bryce Schaben made an motion to approve the signing of the 28E agreement, the motion was seconded by Parkhurst. A vote was held with Parkhurst, Kenkel and Schaben all voting in favor of signing the agreement. The motion passed.
Auditor Mark Maxwell spoke of buildings and ground issues; the first being a slab of concrete being poured on the west side of the Courthouse to be used by the Christmas Decorating committee for the building used in their display. It typically gets frozen, or snow covered at ground level to the bare lawn and can not be moved until conditions allow, sometimes in late winter. Two trees are scheduled to be remove in the Courthouse grounds and the sump pump work at the courthouse will be done soon. Maxwell also noted that all of the horizontal sewer replacement has been completed under the Courthouse.
Having no further business the meeting was adjourned.
(Audubon, Iowa) – The Audubon County Engineer & Secondary Roads Department reports, beginning the week of April 3rd, Audubon County Road M66/Bluebird Ave. will be closed to thru traffic for four miles North of Kimballton between 220th street and Hwy. 44, for intersection improvements and resurfacing.
There will be a temporary traffic light at the intersection with state Hwy. 44 during the intersection improvement phase. Residents located along this section of road will have access to their properties during this project.
Detour traffic will be routed East to US Hwy. 71 via Hwy. 44 and F32. Click on the link below for more details and a map.
The Audubon County Community Foundation awarded $140,936 to Audubon County nonprofit organizations and community projects during its Spring 2023 Grant Cycle.
The following organizations are Spring 2023 Grant Recipients:
All grantees met the criteria as Audubon County nonprofit agencies or organizations with charitable missions supporting community needs in the areas of civic engagement, culture, health, education, and social services. Only organizations providing services in Audubon County were eligible to apply.
Audubon County Community Foundation Advisory Board Members pictured include (from left to right): Dr. Bob Blomme, DVM; Pat Kaiser, Vice Chair; Megan Wagner, Secretary/Treasurer; Gina Benton; Steven B. Hansen, Chair; Sunni Kamp, Foundation Director; and Travis Nelson.
The Audubon County Community Foundation is an affiliate of the Omaha Community Foundation, which meets National Standards for Community Foundations, and is one of nine county members of the Community Foundations of Southwest Iowa. It receives funds annually from the State of Iowa County Endowment Fund Program for endowment building and grantmaking throughout the county. This cycle of grants was made possible through the County Endowment Fund Program and is funded by a percentage of the state’s commercial gaming tax revenue, which is distributed annually to participating community foundations associated with counties without a state-issued gaming license.
The Audubon County Community Foundation works with individuals, families, businesses, and organizations to create permanent and expendable funds that address changing, vital community needs and interests. To inquire about donating to the Audubon County Community Foundation, please contact the Community Foundations of Southwest Iowa staff or any board member listed below. Gifts to permanently endowed funds through the Audubon County Community Foundation may be eligible to receive a 25% Endow Iowa Tax Credit.
Advisory board members of the Audubon County Community Foundation are Chair, Steven B. Hansen of Audubon; Vice Chair, Pat Kaiser of Audubon; Secretary/Treasurer, Megan Wagner of Audubon; Gina Benton of Exira; Dr. Bob Blomme, DVM of Audubon; Travis Nelson of Exira; and Donna Olson of Kimballton.
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