Supervisors set hearing for proposed property tax levy

At the Monday Wright County Board of Supervisors meeting, the board set a public hearing for February 7 for the proposed property tax levy. By state law, if there is over a 2% increase in the proposed tax levy, a public hearing must be held. In the proposed plan, there would be increases in tax dollars requested in the general services fund (7.36% increase) and in rural services fund (15.29% increase). In the explanation of increases, the public hearing notice says, “Inflation of 7% for 2021 and complying with SF342 Back the Blue legislation. General Basic increase is the additional funding of the E911 Dispatchers department taking into consideration the wage adjustment. Majority of the rural services increase is due to Sheriff Deputy wage adjustment.” Auditor Betty Ellis noted that this hearing will be the first step towards approving the overall county budget. A public hearing for the entire budget will likely be scheduled in mid-March, she added.

Adam Clemons, Wright County Engineer, gave a secondary roads update. Clemons discussed snow fences. A traditional orange type of snow fence costs the county 93 cents a foot. It costs 21 cents per foot to make a snow fence out of standing snow and if the county has to haul in snow for that purpose, it costs $1.14 per foot.

The supervisors attended an Iowa Association of Counties conference last week that included leadership training. Chairman Rick Rasmussen noted that it was a very informative and uplifting training and that the county should look into sending department leaders to such trainings in the future.

In other board business, they approved a liquor license for Clarmond Country Club and the treasurer’s semi-annual report. There was no COVID update during the meeting as Public Health Director Sandy McGrath was not present.