County tax changes explained

There has been a lot of discussion the last few weeks about increases in the county’s maximum property tax dollars. A public hearing was held last week, February 7, at the Wright County Board of Supervisors meeting to discuss the levy.

               As noted in previous stories and legal notices published in the county newspapers, tax dollars requested in the general services fund (a 7.36% increase) and in the rural services fund (a 15.29% increase) are going up for the next fiscal year. The reason for increases cited in the public hearing notes mentioned inflation and wage adjustments, including for the county sheriff and 911 dispatchers.

               This does mean that there will be an increase in property taxes that the county is asking some Wright County residents to pay, but not everyone. For some residents, the county portion of their taxes may in fact be less than last year. For those paying more, the increase is not the same across the board.

               Tax increases (or decreases) depend on several factors. These include the assessed value of your property, which can change yearly, and where it is in the county. The rollback dictated by the Iowa Department of Revenue also plays a factor in taxes. Since last year, rollback percentages have increased for agricultural realty (from 84.0305% to 89.0412% for the next fiscal year) and decreased for residential realty (56.4094% to 54.1302%).

               Wright County Auditor Betty Ellis explained, county wide, the biggest tax increases will be for rural residents living on acreages who do not make a living farming. There was a large increase in the assessed value of these acreages.  For instance, in the sample parcel detailed in the table above, a rural home in the county will see a 17.56 cent per $1,000 increase in their county tax levy. A sample parcel of ag land by Eagle Grove will see a 7.4% increase. On the flip side, Ellis added that town residents may see the county portion of their taxes decrease.

               At the hearing during the supervisors meeting last week, various residents asked questions about the tax levy. One person brought up the fact that the wage increases such as those for law enforcement as dictated by Governor Reynold’s Back the Blue Act could be spread out over the next few years and wondered why the county was increasing salaries so much all at once.

               The supervisors explained that they are seeing a revolving door for positions in the county such as jailors, dispatchers and deputies. Chairman Rick Rasmussen noted that some law enforcement employees who have been working in the county a number of years are earning less than brand new hires for the same position in neighboring counties. “We need to bring those salaries up to where they need to be now rather than wait,” he emphasized. “We can’t keep losing people and have a revolving door. It takes too long to train new people.”

               Karl Helgevold added, “I don’t want to keep chasing raises.” He said that if they levy the taxes to cover these increases now, there won’t be such a big bite in the upcoming years for that purpose.

               In the end, the proposed maximum property tax dollars was approved by the supervisors. The hearing for the entire county budget will take place March 14 at the board meeting.

A few important notes: After the hearing and the approval of the maximum property tax dollars at the meeting last week, the supervisors cannot adopt a higher tax asking for the property tax levy, though they could adopt a lower asking. Also, these tax figures and this information applies only to the county portion of a property owner’s taxes. Other taxing entities, such as cities, school districts and the assessor, have their own levy rates.