Letter to the Editor: Extravagant LEC is behind Floyd County property tax hikes

By John Merfeld, Rockford

It’s been argued that our state legislators and governor are largely responsible for the big increase in next year’s Floyd County property tax levy.

If true, supervisors in other counties would have likely increased their levies by at least a small amount. But this is not the case. Our neighbors in Chickasaw and Cerro Gordo Counties will enjoy a reduction in their property tax levies for next year.

It is evident that our supervisors have saddled Floyd County property taxpayers with the construction and maintenance costs of an overly extravagant law enforcement center.

Upon voter approval of the referendum on May 1, 2018, it would be reasonable to expect that our supervisors would have quickly locked in material, labor and equipment costs for the entire project. Instead, nearly a year later our supervisors have not yet finalized the construction plan as they struggle to keep the project under budget.

Those of us that voted against the referendum were not necessarily against upgrading the jail. Our no votes were a rejection of the original proposal that would have forced our supervisors to consider more economical alternatives.