(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the House and Senate have yet to agree on a property tax reduction plan as the 2023 Iowa legislature enters its 13th week. Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council, is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. He’s sponsored three different bills on the subject. “I believe something will get done this session…While we have different bills, we hit the same topics,” Dawson says. “The House is looking at debt, how cities put stuff on debt and we’re looking at assessments. We know that assessments are going to be an issue this year.”

Assessments are naturally going up because the sale prices of homes and farmland has gone up over the past few years, but lawmakers are discussing ways to limit how much city and county property tax collections may grow annually. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver said “There’s nothing wrong with an assessment going up, it’s when that assessment results in higher property taxes,” Whitver says, “and so looking at that formula and the rollbacks and just making sure that cities are taxing only what they need to.”

One of Dawson’s proposals would consolidate most local government operations under one general property tax levy, getting rid of special levies. Dawson cites the example of civic center levies, which he says were built long ago and the ongoing operation of those facilities should be part of the general city or county budget. “That’s just one example of how we’ve siloed out all these operations, and we need people to be responsible for their overall budget in the end,” Dawson says, “and that’s the value, I think, of our proposal of consolidating these levies and giving locals more responsibility and more accountability in how they budget.”

Senator Pam Jochum of Dubuque is the top Democrat on the senate’s tax policy committee. Jochum says she’s optimistic Republicans and Democrats can find common ground on a property tax reduction plan.  “I would hope we can figure out how we can unravel a very complex tax system, because the property tax system is probably the most complicated of all the tax systems we have in Iowa, and really get our arms around how it works and making sure we aren’t shifting the tax burden onto somebody else.”

Jochum and Dawson made their comments this weekend on Iowa Press on Iowa P-B-S. House Republicans have introduced a bill that would lower the property tax levy for state school funding and have the state cover a larger share of local public school budgets. It also would require schools to use cash reserves or other sources to come up with 10 percent of a construction project’s cost before asking voters to approve a borrowing money for the project. House Speaker Pat Grassley says House and Senate Republicans are not close to agreeing on a common approach to property tax adjustments.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic will meet 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, in their chambers at City Hall. First-off, they’ll act on two Orders: Engineering Agreements with Snyder and Associates, for the Soccer Field Project, and Splashpad Project. City Administrator John Lund says both have been endorsed by the Parks and Recreation Board. The Splashpad Project itself is not included in the City’s 10-year Capital Improvement Plan, and will be financed by fundraising.

Along that same line, the Council will discuss and act on a number of issues pertaining to the Fundraising Committee. City Auditors Gronewold, Bell, Kyhnn & Co., P.C., have raised questions about the fundraising process, including those pertaining to checks and balances.

• Website Ownership: Who owns the (fundraising) website? Who is going to pay for the domain name? Will it come from donated funds? If the City owns the website, it cannot accept donations made through Venmo and PayPal. If SHIFT ATL owns the website, are there going to be fees associated with using either of the aforementioned payment methods? Who is going to absorb those fees?
• Fees charged for the service. The Auditors say the agreement needs to outline the fees that SHIFT will charge for the use of their services. If there is no charge, that needs to be stated as well.
• No cash withdrawals allowed from bank account.
• Checks drawn on the bank account shall only be made out to the City – No checks to vendors or individuals.
• Bank statements will be provided to the City Clerk/Treasurer, not the Park Board.
• The biggest concern of the Auditor’s according to John Lund, is that SHIFT is an unaudited organization. While they do have a CPA, they are still unaudited.

Lund said a number of the issues appear to be indirectly addressed in the agreement, while others may yet be addressed by the Fundraising Committee or SHIFT representatives, during Wednesday’s meeting. In other the Council will receive a presentation by John Lund on the FY 2024 Budget, 10-year Budget Projections, and 10-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Afterward, there will be a Public Hearing on the FY 24 Maximum Property Tax Dollars for certain levies, followed by action on approving a Resolution for the same. Lund says “Due to the extreme chaos of the implementation of the new Business Property Tax Credit/Commercial Rollback and the late adjustment of the residential rollback, the final property tax dollars for FY 24 is not yet known. That will be published in the paper prior to the levy vote.”

Here are the levies and property tax dollars for the FY 23 and expected levies FY 24, for comparison (Click on the image to make full-size):

The Council will act on Resolutions setting April 19, 2023, as the date for Adopting the FY 2024 Budget, and Proposed FY 2024 10-year CIP, followed by a the setting of a Public Hearing on setting the date for the sale of City-owned property at 1310 Chestnut. The Council has previously accepted a bid of $1 from Jay & Kelsi Eden, who intend to completely renovate and flip a home on the property. Other Council business includes setting Public Hearings on April 19th for dissolving the Community Promotion Commission and Cable TV Committee. And, the Council will hold the second reading of an Ordinance with regard to Mobile Food Vendors (Food trucks) being required to have a permit, purchased no less than 10-days in advance of an event they plan on attending, in order for Atlantic Police to complete a background check and so they City Clerk may prepare the necessary paperwork. The permit does not apply to “Brick-and-mortar” businesses within the corporate limits of Atlantic, and vendors that are catering private events not otherwise open to the public.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors will act on several matters during their 9-a.m. meeting Tuesday, at the Courthouse in Atlantic. According to the agenda provided by Auditor Kathy Somers, that includes…

• Discuss/Approve Resolution 2023-06, Approval of Cass County Secondary Roads Five-Year Construction Program, FY 24-29
• Discuss/Approve Resolution 2023-07, Amendment to Cass County Five-Year Construction Program, FY23-28
• Presentation/Acceptance of the FY 2022 annual audit by Gronewold, Bell, Kyhnn & Co. P.C.
• Approve tax sale of county-held certificate 2021-03. 445.16 Abatement or compromise of tax
• Discuss/Approve Resolution 2023-08, Approving Allocation of ARPA Funds to Temporarily Expand the Role of the Cass County Wellness Coordinator to Address Local Public Health Priorities and Assist in Long-Term Pandemic Recovery Efforts
• Discuss/Approve changes in employee benefits effective July 1, 2023:
  • Leave ISAC and elect a stand-alone health insurance plan with Wellmark, saving the county approximately $143,000 from the current premiums. The partial self-fund claims should be between $200,000 and $300,000.
  • Pay to keep the wellness program (approximately $20,000-$25,000), EAP program (approximately $4,000-$5,000) and Accident & Dismemberment Plan (approximately $10,000-$12,000).

The Board will receive reports from County Engineer Trent Wolken, and Cass County Community Services/Judicial Mental Health Director, Deb Schuler, and act on two township positions IF there is a candidate for either or both positions.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is renewing his call for the Biden administration to disclose all it knows about the high-altitude Chinese balloon that flew across the U-S in February. N-B-C is reporting today (Monday) that the spy balloon — which China claimed was a weather balloon blown off course — was able to gather intelligence from several U-S military sites and transmit it back to Beijing in real time.  “What the United States needs to do as a result of that balloon,” Grassley says, “we need to know everything that we know about that balloon and Congress needs a briefing on that.”

The report says the balloon managed to make multiple passes over some sites, including flying in a figure-eight, before a U-S fighter jet shot it down off the South Carolina coast. Grassley says there are already clear laws dictating how our airspace is not to be violated.

Grassley says, “The action that Congress needs to take in response to this, but several other things that China is doing, is to build up our military which is losing ground against China.” A total of four balloons were shot down during February, including two near Alaska and a third over Lake Huron. Grassley says America needs to show China and the world our strength and that we’ll defend our borders — and our allies.

“A strong military is the best tool of peace,” Grassley says, “to be prepared to ward off any actions that China may be taking in that part of the world that threaten countries that we have military alliances with.” At the urging of Congress, Grassley says the U-S is also pushing to pull manufacturing out of China and relocate it in the U-S.

(Glewood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood, Sunday, arrested a man from Malvern, for OWI/1st offense. 30-year-old London Tyler was also charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance. His total bond was set at $2,000. He has since posted bond and was released.

(UPDATED) (Cumberland, Iowa) – Firefighters from Cumberland were paged-out to a fully engulfed barn fire Sunday, at around 3:32-p.m. Cumberland Fire Chief Jason Rouse said the incident, which started in an older barn, happened at at 72686 700th Street.

Massena Fire provided additional tanker and grass units at the scene. Two grass fire units from Griswold Fire were also requested. A total of six grass trucks were on the scene.

The barn and its contents was a total loss.

The structure was said to be near a propane tank, and close to a residence to the north.

Rouse said there was electricity run underground to the barn, so it’s unclear how the fire started. No injuries were reported, and the lives of farm animals were sparred because they were away from the burning structure. Rouse wants to thank the other fire departments for their assistance.

Crews were on the scene until about 5:45-p.m.  They went back a couple of times to extinguish some hot spots. And, while the cause of this fire is undetermined, Fire Chief Jason Rouse asks property owners to hold-off on any controlled burns until we get enough precipitation to dampen the very tinder grassland and vegetation.