(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors this (Tues.) morning voted to set levy rates for the upcoming fiscal year budget. It followed a public hearing Monday during which a call was made for a reduction in tax rates. The supervisors voted 4-1 this (Tues.) morning to reduce the general or countywide rate from 2.12 originally proposed to 1.9 while leaving the rural services rate at 1.71 as originally proposed. Supervisor Kim Wermersen cast the lone dissenting vote…
“As I did research online, Dickinson county currently has the lowest levy rate in the state of Iowa. The state average levy rate is 6.26. Dickinson county currently is 2.37. Dickinson county has the lowest taxation percentage of home value in the state at .89 percent.”
Wermersen added the problem, however, is with ongoing increases in valuations in Dickinson county driving up property taxes, something he says the county has no control over. Wermersen says while he agrees levy rates need to be reduced, he’s worried about taking them down too far, saying that could cause serious issues in the future especially if new property tax legislation is passed in the Iowa Legislature.
On a related note, the supervisors also set April 14th at 9:00 am as the date and time for a public hearing on the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
