Public hearing set on maximum Floyd County property tax for 2020-21

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A new state law will require an extra public hearing on property tax rates in Floyd County.

The law, which was passed by the Legislature in its 2019 session, requires a public hearing to set the maximum amount of taxes that can be collected by the county as it goes about setting its budget for the coming fiscal year.

The law was passed as a “transparency” measure by proponents who argued that public bodies often say they aren’t raising taxes because the tax rate doesn’t increase, even though the amount of taxes collected increases because total property tax valuations went up.

In Floyd County, the taxable valuation in the county increased by more than $56 million from the current fiscal year to the new fiscal year that will begin July 1, from $876.8 million to $933.4 million.

If tax rates stay the same, that will result in more than half a million dollars in additional property taxes being collected by the county.

Tuesday morning the county Board of Supervisors set a public hearing for 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, in the boardroom on the second floor of the courthouse, to hear any comments regarding the proposed maximum tax.

In the public notice published for the hearing, the county lists an explanation of “significant increases in the budget.”

For Floyd County, those items are:

• Health insurance premiums across all funds.
• Auditor – election equipment.
• Sheriff – law enforcement center/jail, vehicles and equipment.
• Courthouse – building improvements.
• Public defender – court-related services.
• Public health – nursing/aid services.
• Data processing/IT – server and relocation costs.
• Conservation – projects.

Once the county board passes a resolution on the maximum tax that can be collected, it can reduce rates to collect less, but it cannot collect more without approval by a vote of county residents.

The new law also requires that any budget that calls for more than a 2% increase in the amount of taxes collected must be passed by a two-thirds majority instead of a simple majority.

That change is essentially meaningless for three-member boards such as Floyd County’s, since any measure must already pass by at least two of the three supervisors.

If tax rates stay the same in Floyd County, the amount paid by all property owners in the county would increase 6.46%, adding an additional $294,000 in taxes.

The additional amount paid by rural property owners — people whose property isn’t in incorporated cities — would increase 10.8%, increasing taxes collected by $206,620.

Rural residents pay additional property taxes for services that mainly benefit rural residents, similar to how people who live in cities also pay city property taxes in addition to their county property taxes.

The county’s budget and tax levies must be certified to the state by March 31. A public hearing on the proposed budget and final proposed tax rates will be scheduled before the budget is officially approved by the Board of Supervisors.

Also at the supervisors’ workshop meeting on Monday morning and at its regular meeting Tuesday, the board:

• Received notice from Sheriff Jeff Crooks that he has hired Luke Chatfield as a new deputy sheriff, beginning duty Monday, Jan. 27.

Chatfield was previously employed by the Charles City Police Department. He started with the CCPD as a reserve officer in December 2017 and was hired as a full-time officer in April 2018. Chatfield, a 2003 Charles City High School graduate, served more than 12 years in the Iowa Army National Guard, including two tours in Afghanistan.

• Approved a resolution authorizing a loan agreement to issue $7.49 million in general obligation bonds, the second part of the bond issue for the new law enforcement center and courthouse updates.

This issue completes the total $13.5 million in bonds that voters authorized when they passed a referendum in May 2018.

• Heard an update from Brian Shindelar, the site superintendent with the Samuels Group, the LEC project construction manager, that work continues on pouring the footings for the elevator shaft and looking for staging areas to temporarily store materials being brought to town for the project.

• Continued work on the new fiscal year county budget to take effect July 1. Discussion included freezing all new employee position hires and increases from part-time to full-time, agency funding requests, and tentative dates for the final budget, according to minutes of Monday’s meeting.