(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand has released a report of all the property tax levies in Iowa and Sand says it shows the property tax is regressive. “Fairness in taxation is a big issue and knowing now, as we have now proven, that lower income and middle income, middle class Iowans pay a higher rate on their taxes per thousand dollars of valuation than wealthy Iowans, I think that’s an important consideration for policy makers,” Sand says. Sand says the lowest overall levies are in northwest and north central Iowa.”Rates are a little bit higher in central and southern Iowa,” Sand says, “and in most large and mid-sized cities as well.” Sand has released a series of maps showing the tax rates in the 4100 property tax districts in Iowa.

“Until today some people have suspected but we have never known that in fact when compared to median income rates, according to Census data, that property taxes in Iowa are in fact a regressive tax,” Sand says. “What that means is that working class and middle class Iowans pay a higher rate on their property taxes than wealthy Iowans do.”

Sand reviewed property tax rates in 2014, 2017 and 2024. He is not making recommendations for changes in how cities, counties, school districts and other local government entities collect property taxes. Iowans who own property get a notice in August about payments that are due in September and March.

(Radio Iowa) – Teaching a gender neutral version of Spanish, French or any other language would not be allowed in Iowa schools under a bill that’s passed a subcommittee in the Iowa House.

Republican Representative Bill Gustoff of Des Moines says it’s not about pronouns in the English language, but other languages have words in male and female versions. “If that’s part of the language, then teach the language,” Gustoff says, “but don’t rewrite an entire language to remove ‘el’ and ‘la’ and ‘o’ and ‘a’ as endings.”

Gustoff says he introduced the bill because a teacher told him they would be disciplined if they did not teach a gender neutral version of a language. Gustoff says the teacher asked not to be publicly identified and Gustoff is not revealing the district where the teacher works.

Tye Nyhus, a Spanish instructor in Des Moines, says teaching and using gender neutral pronouns in class is important for some students. “Kids that don’t use it will likely not remember it,” Nyhus says, “but those who do will remember the feeling of being seen for a lifetime.”

Europeans have been debating the use of nouns coded as masculine and feminine. The agency that oversees usage of the Italian language has come out against gender neutral terms. In November the French senate voted to ban the use of gender neutral terms in government documents.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Montgomery County District 5 Supervisor Donna Robinson announced at the end of the Supervisor’s regular meeting, today (Tuesday), that she will not be running for re-election this year. Robinson said four-terms is enough, and if anyone wishes to step-up and run for her seat, the filing deadline is March 22nd. March 4th is the first day for candidates to file nomination papers for the June 4th Iowa Primary, with March 22nd as the deadline. Each candidate must garner a certain number of signatures in order to be placed on the primary ballot. Anyone with questions should contact the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office at 712-623-5127. District 5 essentially includes the eastern one-third of Montgomery County.

Montgomery County Supervisor Donna Robinson (Official County photo)

In other business, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors received good news, with regard to the rate the County and its employees pay for health insurance premiums. Alera Group representative Tom Schuetz told the Board

Schuetz said that’s a roughly $40,000 increase.

He said unless there is a huge increase in claims across the board, the County should finish the fiscal year, and allow an additional cushion for the Reserve Fund.

Sagacity Benefits spokesman Steve Preader added the expects and $40-to 60,000 will be available to be added to the Reserve Fund.

The Board took no action on renewing the insurance plan at this time. They wanted more time to look over the information.

In other business, Montgomery County Engineer Karen Albert said with all the recent winter weather, she has not had time to contact applicants for the truck driver labor openings, but they hope to do so this week. And, the Supervisors approved a request for program support from West Central Community Action, in the amount of $3,500 for FY2025.