No comments at Floyd County’s proposed property tax public hearing

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors approved a purchase agreement for a small parcel of property west of Rockford for a new communications tower at its meeting Monday morning, approved the annexation by Charles City of a small piece of property at the city’s northern limits, and set the time for the county budget public hearing.

The board also held a special meeting half an hour before its regular meeting, to hold a new property tax public hearing mandated by the Iowa Legislature. No comments were received regarding the county’s proposed tax rates during the hearing.

The proposed countywide tax levy for the 2024-25 fiscal year is $6.34000 per $1,000 of taxable valuation, up slightly from the current $6.29794 per $1,000.

The total levy for people in the rural part of the county, which is the countywide levy plus rural services levy, is decreasing from $9.89264 to $9.84000 per $1,000 of taxable valuation.

Floyd County Auditor Gloria Carr said the general basic, general supplemental and rural services tax rates all decreased, but the countywide levy is going up because of an increase of more than 54 cents per $1,000 in debt service due to issuing bonds for a $5 million public safety county communications system.

The total debt service, which includes the new communications bonds plus bonds approved in 2018 to help pay for the Floyd County Law Enforcement Center and courthouse updates, represents $1.48 per $1,000 of taxable valuation on the county tax bill.

The public hearing was connected with the Legislature’s mandate that counties also send a statement to each property owner in the county showing what the maximum proposed property tax rates are for the county, school districts and cities in which each parcel is located.

The statement compares the current tax rate with what the tax rate would be under the new total valuation if the amount of property tax collected remained the same, and the percentage change.

Floyd County Auditor Gloria Carr, whose office had to mail out about 8,500 statements at a cost of about $7,000, said the statements may be confusing because they don’t include all the taxing authorities that will be listed on actual tax statements, and they don’t take into consideration changes in the assessed value on properties.

After closing the special meeting and opening the regular meeting, one of the items of business on the regular meeting agenda was setting a date for the county fiscal year 2024-25 budget hearing. That was set for 9:15 p.m. on Monday, April 15, in the supervisors boardroom in the courthouse.

Also at the regular board meeting Monday, the supervisors:

• Approved a purchase agreement with Stephen Schlader for 1½ acres of property Schlader owns directly west of the Floyd County Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve near Rockford, to be used as the location for a 300-foot-tall communications tower for a new countywide public safety communications system.

The purchase price is $70,000, plus 25% of any revenue the tower gets for antenna space leases for 30 years.

• Discussed a contract for $2,000 per month with OmniTel for use of dual fiber optic circuits between the Floyd County Law Enforcement Center and the new communications tower near Rockford, and between the Rockford tower and the communication tower located at the Mason City Iowa State Patrol site.

The connection will provide dual redundancy communications with the Iowa State Interoperable Communication System (ISICS), an OmniTel spokesperson said. He also said part of the system could be used before the new tower is built as the new radios and other equipment are ready for the county system.

The supervisors asked OmniTel to revise the contract, separating the cost for before the Rockford tower is built and after the tower is built and come back to the board’s regular meeting next week.

• Approved a lease agreement so Motorola and Pyramid, the companies supplying radio equipment and supplying the tower, can begin site work and applying for permits for the tower construction, and approved hiring a surveyor to get an official survey of the tower site property.

• Approved the voluntary annexation by Charles City of a small single-owner parcel of land at the northern city limits, to possibly be used as the site of a housing project.

• Reappointed Cathy McGregor as the rural county representative to the North Cedar Aviation Authority, the organization that owns and operates the Northeast Iowa Regional Airport.